Narcissism and Self-Esteem in Adolescents

Purpose: In a society where mental health is talked about frequently, the Cluster B personality disorder group has been neglected, presenting the need for further research concerning low self-esteem in adolescents & narcissistic tendencies. Hypothesis: Narcissism is related to low self-esteem in adolescents. Methods: Adolescents ages 13-18 took part in a Google Forms survey containing 34 questions. Questions were derived from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Participants were asked about their age, gender, GPA, and ethnicity. The data was used to perform a Spearman rank-order correlation test. Results: NPI questions related to narcissistic tendencies were not correlated with RSES questions related to low self-esteem. Rather, NPI questions related to narcissistic tendencies were more closely related to RSES questions suggesting high self-esteem. Conclusion: Narcissism is not related to low self-esteem in adolescents. There needs to be more research done on narcissism and its relation to other factors. Self-esteem also needs to be factored into many issues concerning mental health and psychology.