Perceived maternal narcissistic traits and adult daughters' maladaptive personality traits in South Korea: the mediating roles of maternal psychological control and psychological parentification

Abstract

The harmful impact of pathological narcissism on interpersonal relationships has been well-documented. Extant research on the long-term effects of parental pathological narcissistic traits on children's personality development, however, remains scarce. Addressing this gap, the present study examined how perceived maternal narcissistic traits relate to the child's maladaptive personality traits, specifically codependency and narcissistic vulnerability, in South Korean adult daughters. Guided by previous literature, we tested a mediation model in which maternal psychological control and daughters' psychological parentification sequentially mediated this relationship. The non-clinical sample consisted of 269 South Korean adult daughters (aged 20-49, M = 30.2), all of whom reported childhood experiences of emotional or physical abuse or neglect by their mothers. Data were collected via an online survey, and structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Results indicated that maternal narcissistic traits indirectly predicted daughter's maladaptive personality traits through maternal psychological control and, sequentially, through psychological parentification. These findings underscore the importance of interventions that target maternal psychological control and help daughters resolve psychological parentification, thereby, reducing the negative psychological consequences of narcissistic mothering. Discussion also includes the implications of the findings within the South Korean sociocultural context, providing culturally informed insights for research and clinical practice.