The influence of narcissistic character on the self-esteem of conduct disordered adolescents

The present study obtained survey data from 39 male patients of a residential treatment facility. Participants completed the Achenbach's (1991) Youth Self-Report scale, the Adolescent Narcissism scale (1999), and the Rosenberg (1965) Self-esteem scale. Given the mixed symptom presentation of the sample, internalizing and externalizing scores served as predictors for self-esteem and narcissism, respectively. Two hypotheses were supported, results revealed that externalizing scores predicted narcissism, but not self-esteem; while internalizing scores predicted self-esteem, but not narcissism.