Validation of perceived narcissistic parenting scale

Abstract

Narcissistic parenting describes a parent-child relationship in which the needs of the parents are a priority while children's needs and autonomy are neglected or prohibited. The child is used as a means of satisfying parental needs and goals with no regard to its authentic needs and emotions. Despite the significant number of research studies there is a lack of validated instruments for measuring the perception of this parenting type. In this research a preliminary version of the Perceived narcissistic parenting scale was constructed, with parallel forms for mother and father. The initial scale consisted of 33 items, that describe the following indicators of narcissistic parenting: psychological control, conditional regard, high standards, and parental favoritism. The sample of the research consisted of 230 youth, aged 18 to 30 (M = 22, SD = 3.00), 83.91% female. More than third of participants (36.52%) report that they sought professional psychological help in their lives. Exploratory factor analysis of mother and father scale form shows that one-factor solution is optimal in both cases, once the items about perceived parental favoritism are removed. Both mother (ω = .98) and father (ω = .97) versions of the scale show high internal consistency. Participants who were or are currently involved in psychological counselling achieve significantly higher scores on both forms compared to participants who never sought psychological help, which is a potential sign of good convergent validity. The constructed scale has satisfying psychometric characteristics. Scale limitations include the retrospective nature of items and the need for participants to be aware of the problematic nature of parental behavior.