Development and Validation of The Early Life Dynamics and Narcissism Scale: Exploring Family Dynamics and Parenting Styles for Understanding Narcissistic Traits in Men

Abstract

This research’s focus was to develop and validate “The Early Life Dynamics and Narcissism Scale” (ELDNS). A culturally sensitive therapeutic screening tool, designed to identify impacts of early life dynamics and parenting styles on Narcissistic tendencies in men. The development of “ELDNS” followed a rigorous methodology, utilizing a mixed method approach, diving the study into five phases that included purposive sampling in which interviews were conducted from eight narcissistic personality disorder diagnosed patients. Succeeded by expert’s content validation by clinical psychologists. The semi structured interview questions were designed in accordance to research’s objectives, these questions included adverse childhood experiences, parenting styles and family histories. Preliminary set of 29 items were refined by expert evaluation, that was finalized for pilot study and explanatory factor analysis. Factor analysis identified two principal factors: “Childhood familial dynamics and adverse experiences “and “Parental influence and emotional outcomes”. The scale exhibited exceptional reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.78) and test-retest stability, affirming its efficacy as a tool for screening out early life dynamics and parenting styles that had an effect on Narcissistic Personality Disorder etiology. Moreover, evaluations of convergent and divergent validity demonstrated the scale’s precision. This tool would have great clinical implications.