Date
12-19-2024
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision (PhD)
Chair
Kerry Anne Marsh
Keywords
parental narcissism, adult romantic attachment, self-compassion
Disciplines
Counseling | Psychology
Recommended Citation
Bishop, Deanna A., "Perceived Parental Narcissism: The Adult Child's Search of Romantic Attachment Through Self-Compassion" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 6352.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/6352
Abstract
Narcissistic personality disorder is defined by a strong desire for admiration and apathetic responses to others’ emotional needs making bonding in any relationship difficult (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Healthy bonding within a family environment can be hindered by the lack of empathetic response and agentic behaviors that are characteristic of this personality type (Shaw, 2014). By virtue of innocence and dependency, children are the most vulnerable. The literature illustrates that emotional abuse and neglect, like parental narcissistic abuse, disrupts secure attachment between the parent and the child and can also prevent the child from learning healthy coping mechanisms, such as self-compassion (Lui, 2017; Salokangas et al., 2020). Attachment is enduring and therefore, childhood attachment wounds carry into adult relationships recreating the parent-child dyad (Bowlby, 1969). This simple moderation quantitative study investigated the relationship between perceived parental narcissism and the adult child’s romantic insecure attachment styles along with the moderating impact of self-compassion. A cross-sectional survey was used to assess 393 participants recruited through an online survey platform. A test of linearity revealed that there was no relationship between parental narcissism and adult insecure attachment. Also, no relationship was found between self-compassion and adult insecure attachment. Considering that a perceived parental narcissism scale does not exist, a single-item measure was created to measure this variable, which may have contributed to the lack of results. Further research is needed to formulate a reliable and valid assessment of perceived parental narcissism so to support clinical treatment of this unique form of abuse.
