Abstract

Six hypotheses regarding the association between narcissism (i.e., a personality trait characterized by a grandiose sense of self and a pervasive need for this supposed superiority be validated and recognized by other people) and children’s experiences with peers were studied in a multiwave longitudinal study conducted with 333 early adolescent girls and boys. Findings showed that (a) Children high in narcissism were continually attracted to high-status friends; (b) Narcissism was a negative predictor of friendship reciprocity and that this association was moderated by child acceptance and status in different ways; (c) Children high in narcissism demonstrated less friendship stability as compared to their peers; (d) For children high in narcissism at baseline, social status (not acceptance) served to maintain continued narcissism over time; and (e) The instability of friendship choices for children high in narcissism was not related to the status of the peers selected as friends. The results of our analyses demonstrate that status had a stronger significance for children who were rated as high on a measure of narcissism than for those who were not. Compared to its effect on other children, status had a stronger effect on the friendship selections of children who were high in narcissism and, further, status was observed to moderate the stability of narcissism.