Narcissism Declines Across Lifespan, Meta-Analysis Finds
Narcissism typically decreases across the lifespan, with high rank-order stability and consistent patterns across gender and birth cohorts, according to a meta-analysis of 51 longitudinal samples.
A meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin reveals that narcissism typically decreases from childhood through late adulthood, with agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism showing normative declines across the lifespan. The stability of narcissism was found to be high, with gender and birth cohort not moderating the findings on mean-level change and rank-order stability. However, clinical samples demonstrated larger declines in narcissism compared to nonclinical samples, which may have implications for clinical approaches to narcissistic traits across different life stages. The need for more research with non-Western and ethnically diverse populations was highlighted. The study's results suggest that while narcissism does show a normative decline, mean levels remain relatively stable compared to other personality constructs.
1. Meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin on narcissism and lifespan. 2. Shows normative declines in agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism. 3. High stability of narcissism found. 4. Clinical samples demonstrated larger declines. 5. Need for more research with non-Western and ethnically diverse populations highlighted.
