Young women who perceive their mothers as having highly self-centered traits are more likely to struggle with maintaining their own emotional stability. These results suggest that a parent’s inability to show empathy might negatively impact how a daughter learns to process feelings in early adulthood. The research was published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Narcissism involves a grand sense of self-importance combined with a constant need for admiration. People with highly narcissistic personalities tend to prioritize their own personal desires over the feelings of others. They frequently lack the ability to empathize with the people around them. This creates a difficult environment within a family unit.
A narcissistic parent might view children merely as extensions of themselves. They often struggle to offer genuine emotional support or validate a child’s independent thoughts and feelings. Children growing up in this type of environment frequently learn to suppress their own emotions to avoid harsh criticism. They might learn early on that maintaining outward appearances matters more than addressing genuine emotional pain.
Emotional balance describes a person’s ability to navigate life’s inevitable stresses without swinging into extreme mood states. A person with emotional balance possesses the internal tools to calm down and respond constructively when faced with frustration. They can maintain a sense of equilibrium while evaluating a stressful situation. Those lacking these skills are more susceptible to aggressive reactions or harmful behaviors when under pressure.
The researchers viewed emotional balance through the lens of cognitive and behavioral psychology. From a cognitive perspective, negative emotions often stem from distorted interpretations of reality. When an individual learns to replace these negative thoughts with realistic assessments, they tend to gain better control over their emotional reactions.
Behavioral theorists offer a similar perspective on how stress impacts young adults. They view emotional imbalance as the result of a person losing control over their behavior when confronted with an external problem. A student facing academic pressure might resort to social isolation rather than seeking help, which then feeds back into a cycle of heightened anxiety.
The university years represent a major life transition that tests a young adult’s coping mechanisms. Students face intense academic demands, shifting social dynamics, and the pressure of impending independence. Being unable to regulate emotions during this time can lead to academic failure or severe mental health struggles.
Entesar Alnashmi and Hanem M. Alboray of King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia sought to understand how family dynamics influence developmental outcomes. They wanted to see if the environment a student grew up in correlates with her current emotional coping skills. Alnashmi led the development of specific questionnaires used to measure these specific psychological dynamics.
The researchers recruited 416 female undergraduate students between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. These participants were enrolled in various academic programs, including agricultural sciences and business administration. The research team collected data over a three-month period using both electronic and paper surveys. Participants completed the forms anonymously to encourage honest responses about their family lives.
To measure family dynamics, the researchers designed the Narcissistic Mother Scale. This tool asked students to rate their mothers on nine distinct behavioral dimensions. These categories included dominance, arrogance, a sense of superiority, excitability, and feelings of entitlement. Students rated statements based on whether the behaviors applied to their mothers occasionally or consistently.
The researchers also developed an Emotional Balance Scale to evaluate the internal lives of the students. This questionnaire measured both personal and social emotional regulation capabilities. It asked students about their cognitive harmony, which refers to the consistency between their thoughts and beliefs. The tool also assessed how well the participants managed contradictory feelings during stressful moments.
Overall, most participants rated their mothers relatively low on the narcissism scale. The one exception was a trait the researchers labeled excitability, which scored in the moderate range. Overall emotional balance for the students independently averaged out to a moderate level as well.
When the researchers analyzed the combined data, they found a predictable mathematical pattern. The analysis revealed a negative correlation between perceived maternal narcissism and the emotional balance of the daughters. Students who reported higher levels of maternal narcissism tended to score lower on emotional balance, while those reporting lower maternal narcissism scored higher.
The researchers broke down the data further to isolate which specific maternal traits were the strongest indicators of emotional distress. They found that a mother’s intolerance was the strongest predictor of a daughter’s emotional imbalance. Exploitative behavior by the mother was the second strongest indicating factor.
The study authors tied these results to established psychological frameworks like attachment theory. Children need secure emotional bonds with their primary caregivers to develop healthy social skills. When a mother fails to provide a secure emotional base, the child can experience a form of emotional neglect. This unseen neglect can leave lasting feelings of emotional loneliness that carry into adulthood.
Children in narcissistic families might also develop maladaptive defense mechanisms to survive their household environment. Some psychologists suggest that these children are never taught to set healthy boundaries. They grow up prioritizing the needs of their parents to gain basic acceptance and avoid conflict. As adults, this childhood conditioning translates into an inability to express their own needs or process negative emotions effectively.
The current study relies entirely on the daughters’ subjective perceptions of their mothers. The researchers did not conduct clinical psychiatric evaluations of the mothers to confirm a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. The study design is correlational, meaning it cannot definitively prove that maternal traits directly cause the daughters’ emotional struggles. The sample is also limited to a specific demographic of female students at a single university.
To build on this foundational work, the researchers recommend developing targeted intervention programs. They believe universities could offer counseling designed specifically to mitigate the impact of difficult family dynamics on young women. Future studies might also compare the emotional balance of daughters raised by highly narcissistic mothers with that of their typical peers.
Additional research could examine how maternal narcissism relates to other psychological variables in young adults. The authors hope their work will increase awareness among parents about their fundamental role in fostering healthy emotional development. Providing a supportive and empathetic environment at home appears to give children a better chance at navigating the stresses of adult life.
The study, “The narcissistic personalities of mothers as perceived by their daughters and its relationship to emotional balance among female students at King Faisal University,” was authored by Entesar Alnashmi and Hanem M. Alboray.