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Are we experiencing a narcissism epidemic?

Over the last decade, much has been said and written about a presumed increase in narcissism amongst so-called “Generation Me” members. This alleged narcissism epidemic is often attributed to an increased emphasis on self-esteem and self-promotion, growing economic prosperity, and widespread changes in parenting styles in Western societies over the last three decades. Indeed, research findings point to a link between narcissism and economic prosperity during early adulthood. In this respect, it has been suggested that reliance on others for the fulfilment of one’s basic needs may inhibit the development of narcissistic traits (Bianchi, 2015).

Narcissism levels are also believed to be higher amongst members of individualistic Western societies as opposed to members of more collectivist cultures: in support of this hypothesis, a 2018 study comparing measures of narcissism in participants born and educated in former West Germany versus participants from East Germany identified a direct association between individualism and grandiose narcissism (Vater et al., 2018); however, no correlation was found between individualism and vulnerable narcissism. Nevertheless, a 2016 study found no significant differences in narcissism levels between German and Russian Facebook users (Brailovskaia & Bierhoff, 2016). Interestingly, self-esteem and narcissism appear to follow opposite trajectories, with narcissism decreasing with age and self-esteem increasing over time until late middle age (Vater et al., 2018). These results point to a complex, non-linear relationship between self-esteem and individualism on the one hand, and narcissism on the other: at this stage, then, the existence of a causal relationship between these factors remains far from proven.