RESEARCH PAPER
How do parental rearing behaviors relate to hostile attributions manifested by adolescents? The mediating role of narcissistic vulnerability
 
More details
Hide details
1
The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2023-08-24
 
 
Final revision date: 2024-10-01
 
 
Acceptance date: 2024-11-07
 
 
Online publication date: 2025-02-28
 
 
Corresponding author
Marta Bodecka-Zych   

The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
 
 
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Hostile attributions of intent are linked to externalizing and internalizing problems in children and adolescents. Maladaptive parenting practices are believed to contribute to developing a hostile attributional style. However, there is limited empirical research on this topic. Similarly, research on narcissism often considers the impact of parent-child experiences, but there is a research gap concerning parenting behaviors and facets of narcissism development.

Participants and procedure:
To address these gaps, we conducted a study with 268 teenagers (134 females) aged between 12 and 17 years. Our main goal was to investigate whether maladaptive parenting practices and two facets of vulnerable narcissism are associated with hostile attributions in adolescents. Additionally, based on previous literature, we tested whether narcissistic vulnerabil-ity and antagonism mediate the relationship between parental rearing behaviors and hostile attributions in teenagers.

Results:
Our results revealed positive associations among all variables of interest. Importantly, we found that narcissistic vulnerabil-ity, but not antagonism, played a significant mediating role between maladaptive parenting practices and adolescents’ hos-tile attributional style.

Conclusions:
By shedding light on the mechanisms behind developing a hostile attributional style, our study contributes to a better un-derstanding of this issue and offers practical implications. Specifically, recognizing the importance of narcissistic vulnerabil-ity can benefit professionals working with adolescents who tend to make hostile attributions.
REFERENCES (41)
1.
Arrindell, W. A., Sanavio, E., Aguilar, G., Sica, C., Hatzichristou, C., Eisemann, M., Recinos, L. A., Gaszner, P., Pe-ter, M., Battagliese, G., Kállai, J., & van der Ende, J. (1999). The development of a short form of the EMBU: Its appraisal with students in Greece, Guatemala, Hungary and Italy. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 613–628. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-....
 
2.
Bodecka-Zych, M., Jonason, P. K., & Zajenkowska, A. (2022a). Hostile attribution biases in vulnerable narcissists depends on the socio-relational context. Journal of Individual Differences, 43, 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0....
 
3.
Bodecka-Zych, M., Zajenkowska, A., & Lawrence, C. (2022b). Dad, are they laughing at me? Fathers’ vulnerable narcissism and sons’ hostile attributions. Personality and Individual Differences, 192, 111582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid....
 
4.
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Routledge.
 
5.
Combs, D. R., Penn, D. L., Wicher, M., & Waldheter, E. (2007). The ambiguous intentions hostility questionnaire (AIHQ): a new measure for evaluating hostile social-cognitive biases in paranoia. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12, 128–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/135468....
 
6.
Crick, N. R. (1995). Relational aggression: The role of intent attributions, feelings of distress, and provocation type. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1017/S09545....
 
7.
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2....
 
8.
Daryanto, A. (2020). Tutorial on heteroskedasticity using HeteroskedasticityV3 SPSS macro. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 16, 8–20. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.....
 
9.
de Castro, B. O., Veerman, J. W., Koops, W., Bosch, J. D., & Monshouwer, H. J. (2002). Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: a meta‐analysis. Child Development, 73, 916–934. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8....
 
10.
Dodge, K. A. (2006). Translational science in action: Hostile attributional style and the development of aggressive behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 791–814. https://doi.org/.
 
11.
1017/s0954579406060391.
 
12.
Drozek, R. P., & Unruh, B. T. (2020). Mentalization-based treatment for pathological narcissism. Journal of Person-ality Disorders, 34, 177–203. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2....
 
13.
Gwiazdowska-Stańczak, S., Płudowska, M., & Garbowski, M. (2021). Perceived parental attitudes of the father and the school achievements of adolescents. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 9, 341–353. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2....
 
14.
Hair, J., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010) Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Educational International.
 
15.
Hansen-Brown, A. A., & Freis, S. D. (2021). Assuming the worst: Hostile attribution bias in vulnerable narcissists. Self and Identity, 20, 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/152988....
 
16.
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and in-terpretation. Communication Monographs, 85, 4–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/036377....
 
17.
Horton, R. S. (2011). Parenting as a cause of narcissism: Empirical support for psychodynamic and social learning theories. In W. K. Campbell & J. D. Miller (Eds.), The handbook of narcissism and narcissistic personality disor-der: Theoretical approaches, empirical findings, and treatments (pp. 181–190). John Wiley & Sons.
 
18.
Kernberg, O. (1986). Narcissistic personality disorder. In A. A. Cooper, A. J. Frances, & M. H. Sachs (Eds.), The personality disorders and neuroses (Vol. 1, pp. 219–231). Basic Books.
 
19.
Koutra, K., Paschalidou, A., Roumeliotaki, T., & Triliva, S. (2023). Main and interactive retrospective associations between parental rearing behavior and psychological adjustment in young adulthood. Current Psychology, 42, 18761–18776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144....
 
20.
Lee, S., Chang, H., Ip, K. I., & Olson, S. L. (2019). Early socialization of hostile attribution bias: The roles of paren-tal attributions, parental discipline, and child attributes. Social Development, 28, 549–563. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.1....
 
21.
Li, D., Carnelley, K. B., & Rowe, A. C. (2023). Insecure attachment orientation in adults and children and negative attribution bias: a meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49, 1679–1694. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616....
 
22.
Meesters, C., Muris, P., Dibbets, P., Cima, M., & Lemmens, L. (2017). On the link between perceived parental rearing behaviors and self-conscious emotions in adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26, 1536–1545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826....
 
23.
Miller, J. D., Back, M. D., Lynam, D. R., & Wright, A. G. (2021). Narcissism today: What we know and what we need to learn. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(6), 519-525.
 
24.
Miller, J. D., Hoffman, B. J., Gaughan, E. T., Gentile, B., Maples, J., & Campbell, W. K. (2011). Grandiose and vul-nerable narcissism: a nomological network analysis. Journal of Personality, 79, 1013–1042. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467....
 
25.
Millon, T. (1990). The disorders of personality. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 339–370). Guilford Press.
 
26.
Mills, R. S. (2005). Taking stock of the developmental literature on shame. Developmental Review, 25, 26–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2....
 
27.
Muris, P., Meesters, C., & van Brakel, A. (2003). Assessment of anxious rearing behaviors with a modified version of “Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran” questionnaire for children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behav-ioral Assessment, 25, 229–237. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025....
 
28.
Muris, P., Meesters, C., Merckelbach, H., & Hülsenbeck, P. (2000). Worry in children is related to perceived pa-rental rearing and attachment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 487–497. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-....
 
29.
Muris, P., Meesters, C., Morren, M., & Moorman, L. (2004). Anger and hostility in adolescents: Relationships with self-reported attachment style and perceived parental rearing styles. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57, 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-....
 
30.
Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B., Pimentel, C. A., Cain, N. M., Wright, A. G., & Levy, K. N. (2009). Initial construction and validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 21, 365–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/a00165....
 
31.
Pinquart, M. (2017). Associations of parenting dimensions and styles with externalizing problems of children and adolescents: an updated meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 53, 873–932. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev000....
 
32.
Poraj-Weder, M., & Woźniak-Prus, M. (2020). Parenting practices as a moderator of the relationship between parental attitudes and materialism in adolescents. Przegląd Psychologiczny, 63, 287–309.
 
33.
Quigley, B. M., & Tedeschi, J. T. (1996). Mediating effects of blame attributions on feelings of anger. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1280–1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616....
 
34.
Roelofs, J., Meesters, C., Ter Huurne, M., Bamelis, L., & Muris, P. (2006). On the links between attachment style, parental rearing behaviors, and internalizing and externalizing problems in non-clinical children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 319–332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826....
 
35.
Rogoza, R., Crowe, M. L., Jamison, L., Cieciuch, J., & Strus, W. (2022). Support for the three-factor model of nar-cissism and its personality underpinnings through the lens of the network psychometrics. Psychological As-sessment, 34, 880–890. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas000....
 
36.
Rogoza, R., Flakus, M., Baran, L., & Fatfouta, R. (2020). Narcissistic Antagonism Scale – development and initial vali-dation of a new adjective-based measure (Part 1). Poster presented at the European Conference of Personality.
 
37.
Smeijers, D. (2023). Hostility bias: a key characteristic of aggressive behavior. In C. R. Martin, V. R. Preedy, & V. B. Patel (Eds.), Handbook of anger, aggression, and violence (pp. 559–578). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-....
 
38.
Tracy, J. L., Cheng, J. T., Martens, J. P., & Robins, R. W. (2011). The emotional dynamics of narcissism: Inflated by pride, deflated by shame. In W. K. Campbell & J. D. Miller (Eds.), The handbook of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (pp. 330–343). Wiley.
 
39.
Verhoef, R. E., Alsem, S. C., Verhulp, E. E., & De Castro, B. O. (2019). Hostile intent attribution and aggressive be-havior in children revisited: a meta‐analysis. Child Development, 90, e525–e547. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.1....
 
40.
Wink, P. (1991). Two faces of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 590–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3....
 
41.
Xu, X., Wu, Y., Xu, Y., Ding, M., Zhou, S., & Long, S. (2024). The role of parent-child attachment, hostile attribu-tion bias in aggression: a meta-analytic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 25, 2334–2347. https://doi.org/10.1177/152483....
 
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
eISSN:2353-561X
ISSN:2353-4192
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top