What Are the Signs of a Narcissistic Child?

Clinical narcissism in children is marked by inflated self worth, superficial relationships, emotional fragility and a lack of empathy.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), or narcissism, is a personality disorder characterized by a sense of grandiosity, the need for attention and admiration, superficial interpersonal relationships, and a lack of empathy. It often accompanies other psychiatric disorders and can be difficult to treat.

Symptoms – called core features – of narcissistic personality disorder (narcissism) include:

• Grandiosity
  • Exaggerated sense of self-importance
  • Feeling superior to others and that one deserves special treatment
  • Feelings are often accompanied by fantasies of unlimited success, brilliance, power, beauty, or love
• Excessive need for admiration
  • Must be the center of attention
  • Often monopolize conversations
  • Patients feel slighted, mistreated, depleted, and enraged when ignored
• Superficial and exploitative relationships
  • Relationships are based on surface attributes and not the unique qualities of others
  • People are only valued only to the extent they are viewed as beneficial 
• Lack of empathy
  • Severely limited or totally lacking ability to care about the emotional needs or experiences of others, even loved ones
• Identity disturbance
  • Sense of self is highly superficial, extremely rigid, and often fragile
  • Self-stability depends on maintaining the view that one is exceptional
  • Grandiose sense of self is easily threatened
  • Patients retreat from or deny realities that challenge grandiosity 
• Difficulty with attachment and dependency
  • Relies on feedback from the environment
  • Relationships only exist to shore up positive self-image
  • Interactions are superficial
  • Intimacy is avoided 
• Chronic feelings of emptiness and boredom
  • When attention and praise are not available, patients feel empty, bored, depressed, or restless
• Vulnerability to life transitions
  • Difficulty maintaining reality-based personal and professional goals over time
  • Compromises required by school, jobs, and relationships may feel unbearable
  • Young adults may have a “failure to launch” 

Narcissistic personality disorder is also a significant risk factor for suicide and suicidal attempts.

In children, the core features of narcissistic personality disorder may manifest in the following ways:

• Believing they are better than other kids 
• Difficulty making friends/maintaining friendships
• See getting attention as their right/need to be center of attention
• Withdrawal from others who do not give attention or admiration
• Not expressing gratitude to parents or others for being kind 
• Excluding other children from their playgroup based on superficial characteristics such as the other child being poor, having a lower social status, or if other children are unable to perform the same tasks with what they feel is an appropriate skill level
• Not taking responsibility for their actions and the consequences
• Throwing temper tantrums when criticized 
• Resentment at being told what to do
• Refusal to recognize the authority of others 
• Gaze aversion (not looking into the eyes of someone speaking to them)
• Pathologic play
• Separation anxiety
• Having high and unreasonable expectations of others
• Magnified feelings of envy: The child is offended if others are seen as better than him in any way
• Often accompanies antisocial behavior: The child will get into fights or steal toys from other children