Too much praise for children causes narcissism according to a new study. While boosting your child's self-esteem might be a good thing, fostering it too much might cause them to grow up as jerks. And no parent would want that. So how should one know the limits of "good praise"?
The latest study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science claim that too much praise for children could cause them to grow up as narcissists. Narcissistic traits are allegedly developed from too little or too much attention from parents. It was Eddie Brummelman who started the research in narcissism in children.
"It's children who feel they are better than others, but they also demand constant attention and admiration from others," says Brummelman, from the University of Amsterdam. "In essence, they are very vulnerable. For instance, when they are criticised or feel humiliated, they tend to become aggressive."
Brad Bushman, professor of psychology at Ohio State University, was one of the authors of the study that too much praise for children causes narcissistic behavior. For him, Bushman states that parents should not give their children "blanket praise." This would only foster their narcissistic traits later in life.
"We should not boost self-esteem and hope our children will behave well. Instead, we should praise our children after they do well," states Bushman.
So how does one know what praise is good and what praise is bordering over parental "overvaluation"? Simple, parents should be honest in their feedback and be supportive of their children's self-esteem. But not to the point of showering them with too much praise. As they say, too much praise for children is not always a good thing later on in life.
The study on too much praise for children hopes to find parent training interventions, given narcissism has been on the rise particularly in the West over the decades.
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