Steps to Raising Narcissistic and Violent Children

4 Steps to Raising Narcissistic and Violent Children

By Jeremy Dean 

While little is spoken of it, some children do physically assault their parents.

There are four elements to raising violent, narcissistic adolescents, a new study finds.

They are:

• Exposure to violence.
• Lack of affection.
• Lack of positive communication.
• A permissive upbringing.

While little is spoken of it, some children do physically assault their parents.

Dr Esther Calvete, the study’s first author, said:

“On occasions adolescents assault their parents because the parents themselves have been violent towards the children or among themselves.

Through exposure to family violence, children learn to be violent.

Other times, it is the lack of affectionate and positive communication between parents and their children, the lack of quality time that is dedicated to the children, or permissive parenting styles that do not impose limits.”

The conclusions come from interviews with 591 adolescents across 20 different schools.

The researchers were interested in the link between narcissism and violence.

Dr Calvete said:

“In some cases we can observe that element of narcissism: it concerns adolescents who feel that they should have everything that they want, right here and now.

They don’t take no for an answer.
When their parents try to establish limits, the children react aggressively.”

Also, exposure to violence was linked to aggression directed towards the parents.

Dr Calvete said:

“If the parents do not raise their children with a sense of responsibility and respect, it is easy for the children to develop problems of aggressive behaviour.

If the parents were violent when the children were small, it increases the risk of aggressive behaviour in children.

But the behaviour displayed by fathers and mothers is not the only element.

The temperament of the children is another important component, and some boys and girls are more impulsive and learn violent behaviour more easily.”

One email received by the study’s authors typified the experience of some parents:

“Our son sees himself as above everything.
The other night I told him that he should stop looking at himself in the mirror, that he looked good.

And he hit the roof.

His father later told him that he had no right to talk to me in that manner.

But my son has become more and more verbally aggressive, and the situation has deteriorated into violence.

He hit my husband, who is recovering from bruised ribs and a broken jaw.

The problem is that he continues to think that he is right.

According to him, it’s he who feels threatened,”