Parental Bonding in the Developmental Period and Pathological Narcissism Phenotypes: The Mediating Role of Attachment Anxiety and Shame

Abstract

Narcissistic personality disorder is one of the most severe personality disorders that has a significant impact on the interpersonal relationships of people, and identifying the factors that shape it is very important, for this reason, the purpose of this study is to determine the fit of the structural model of parental bonding in the developmental period and Pathological narcissism phenotypes with the mediating role of attachment anxiety and shame. The descriptive research method was correlation and path analysis. The present research population was all the students of the public universities of Mashhad in the academic year of 2023–2024, of which 345 people were selected by cluster sampling method. Then they completed the questionnaires of Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI), Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI), Close Relationship Experience questionnaire (CREQ) and Test of self-conscious affect-3 (TOSCA-3). The findings showed that the feeling of shame negatively affects the relationship between parenting during the developmental period and vulnerable narcissism (β=-0.132; P = 0.0001) and grandiose narcissism negatively (-0.142). β; P = 0.0001) and attachment anxiety have a positive relationship between attachment parenting in the developmental period and vulnerable narcissism (β = 0.247; P = 0.0001) and grandiose narcissism positively (0.265) β = β; P = 0.0001) mediates. According to these results, it can be said that if the quality and quantity of parental care and supervision is not such as to create security and peace for the child, it will cause attachment anxiety and shame in him, which is necessary to protect and care for the child. Takes refuge in pathological narcissistic behaviors, these results show the importance of healthy care in people's mental health, which requires necessary training for parents in this field.