“True leadership stems from individuality that is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed.”

-Sheryl Sandberg

A study published in Psychological Science found that children that were high in levels of narcissism thought of themselves as better leaders and acted as if they were, although their actual leadership functioning was no different than that of other leaders.

This research was conducted by Eddie Brummelman, and Barbara Nevicka, both Assistant Professors at the University of Amsterdam, and Joseph M. O’Brien, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Narcissism is a personality trait wherein a person tends to be highly entitled and perceives themselves as more important than others. It is a continuum on which individuals can vary and a characteristic they can express through their behaviors and attitudes. 

In children, narcissism develops at approximately the age of seven and manifests as a perception of being better and more capable than others. This may come off as showing off, bragging, and attention seeking.

Leadership, on the other hand, is a trait that resource-control theory suggests also develops in childhood. With many opportunities in school, and group projects, children are able to showcase their leadership qualities in various ways.

332 children were recruited from elementary and secondary schools in the Netherlands to participate in this study.

Initially, children completed narcissism questionnaires to gauge their levels on this trait. Then, they were randomly assigned to groups of three within their classrooms. Within the groups, they were assigned a group task to complete where one child was assigned the role of the leader.

Power analyses were then conducted to detect for associations between levels of narcissism and different aspects of leadership in childhood.

The results displayed that narcissism levels were positively related to the occurrence of leadership. In other words, children who were higher in this trait were more likely to act as leaders in their classrooms. However, these same children were also more likely to incorrectly perceive themselves as being better than average leaders. The children designated as followers did not rate their peers as high on measures of leadership. Actual leadership functioning was not affected as a result of children’s leader narcissism levels. 

Overall, children that were reported to have higher levels of narcissism also acted as leaders in their classrooms and perceived their leadership functioning to be very positive. However, their leadership functioning did not vary significantly compared to other leaders.