A study of early adolescents in China found that individuals higher in narcissism are more prone to both cyberbullying others and online prosocial behaviors. It is possible that in adolescents feeling lonely, narcissism leads to attention-seeking, which, in turn, leads to both cyberbullying and online prosocial behaviors. The study was published in the International Journal of Behavioral Development.
Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance and an intense focus on one’s own needs, desires, and accomplishments. Individuals exhibiting narcissistic tendencies often display a deep need for admiration and typically show a lack of empathy toward others. Such individuals are inclined to engage in self-centered actions and may manipulate or exploit others to satisfy their own needs. While a certain degree of narcissism is considered normal, it becomes a concern when it hinders interpersonal relationships and affects a person’s social and professional functioning.
Young people with pronounced narcissism often promote themselves on social media. They engage in both antagonistic and prosocial behaviors towards others in order to attain status. Past research studies have largely focused on aggressive behaviors of narcissistic individuals, while prosocial behaviors of such individuals have received relatively little attention.
Study author Ying Wang and his colleagues wanted to explore both the aggressive and prosocial facets of narcissism in young people. They aimed to investigate whether narcissism in early adolescents, coupled with a lack of peer support (loneliness), and the interplay between these factors, predict aggressive and prosocial behaviors through either strategic attention-seeking or impulsivity.
They hypothesized that more pronounced narcissism would correlate with increased attention-seeking, leading to both cyberbullying and online prosocial behaviors. Additionally, they theorized that loneliness could also trigger attention-seeking and these online behaviors, while simultaneously intensifying their association with narcissism. Cyberbullying involves using digital technology to harass, threaten, or harm others, often through malicious messages, spreading false information, or online harassment.
The study involved 213 middle school students from a highly developed district in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Over half of these students’ parents had received a college education or higher. The average age of the participants was 13 years, and most were active users of WeChat and QQ, two of the most popular social media platforms in China.
Participants completed assessments of narcissism (the Childhood Narcissism Scale), loneliness (the Childhood Loneliness Scale), attention-seeking on social media (a 5-item scale), impulsivity (items from the Ego Under-Control Scale), cyberbullying offending (a compilation of items from existing cyberbullying scales), and online prosocial behaviors (4 items).
The study authors developed and tested a statistical model to examine the relationships between the observed behavioral tendencies and personality traits. The model revealed that individuals with more pronounced narcissism tended to exhibit more online prosocial behaviors.
While no direct link with cyberbullying was observed, increased narcissistic tendencies did lead to more attention-seeking behaviors, which then resulted in both cyberbullying and online prosocial activities. Notably, individuals with heightened narcissism were not found to be more impulsive than those with less pronounced narcissistic traits.
Lonely individuals were more prone to attention-seeking behaviors, impulsivity, and cyberbullying others. They were less likely to engage in online prosocial behaviors. The model showed that a part of the effect of loneliness on cyberbullying and online prosocial behaviors is mediated by attention-seeking and impulsivity.
Loneliness regulated the strength of the link between narcissism and attention-seeking. When a person was lonely, higher narcissism led to higher attention seeking. However, this link was absent when the person was not lonely.
“These results suggest that narcissistic youth’s aggressive and prosocial behaviors online might both represent strategic efforts to gain recognition. These associations were stronger in the context of higher loneliness, highlighting status-loss contexts as a potential risk factor for heightened narcissistic attention-seeking,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between narcissism, loneliness, and online behaviors. However, it should be taken into account that the study design does not allow any definitive cause-and-effect conclusions to be drawn from the results. Additionally, all data came from self-reports which are particularly vulnerable to social desirability biases when narcissistic individuals are studied.
The paper, “Lonely, impulsive, and seeking attention: Predictors of narcissistic adolescents’ antisocial and prosocial behaviors on social media”, was authored by Ying Wang, Skyler T. Hawk, Natalie Wong, and Yan Zhang.