IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwsop/diw_sp1229.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Narcissism and Wellbeing in Midlife and Beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Alan Piper

Abstract

Lauded psychotherapist and narcissism expert Otto Kernberg claimed that midlife crises were almost solely a narcissistic phenomenon. This article, in part, takes this claim as inspiration and investigates the relationship between grandiose narcissism and wellbeing. Importantly, and following previous research, this work considers grandiose narcissism in two distinct ways: an agentic admiration aspect (example statement: “Being a special person gives me strength”) and an antagonistic rivalry aspect (“Most people are basically losers”). The results, obtained from an assessment of life satisfaction with a large nationally representative dataset, offer support to the previous small and largely homogenous sample investigations regarding wellbeing and narcissism. The agentic aspect of grandiose narcissism being positive for wellbeing and the antagonistic aspect negative. Additionally, the results highlight the possibility that the midlife low is substantially deeper (shallower) and longer (shorter) for those who exhibit the rivalry (admiration) aspect of grandiose narcissism. Of particular note and novelty is the longitudinal evidence that suggests males who exhibit the rivalry trait in older age experience almost no recovery from the common midlife low. This is a result that aligns well with several discussed theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Piper, 2025. "Narcissism and Wellbeing in Midlife and Beyond," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1229, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1229
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.973065.de/diw_sp1229.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schwandt, Hannes, 2016. "Unmet aspirations as an explanation for the age U-shape in wellbeing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 75-87.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    3. Andrew E. Clark & Hippolyte d’Albis & Angela Greulich, 2021. "The age U-shape in Europe: the protective role of partnership," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 19(1), pages 293-318.
    4. Piper, Alan, 2021. "Temps dip deeper: Temporary employment and the midlife nadir in human well-being," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    5. Andrew E. Clark & Hippolyte d'Albis & Angela Greulich, 2021. "The Age U-shape in Europe: The Protective Role of Partnership," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-03029862, HAL.
    6. Ekaterina Oparina & Caspar Kaiser & Niccolò Gentile & Alexandre Tkatchenko & Andrew E. Clark & Jan-Emmanuel de Neve & Conchita D’ambrosio, 2025. "Machine learning in the prediction of human wellbeing," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04928500, HAL.
    7. Andrew E. Clark & Hippolyte d'Albis & Angela Greulich, 2021. "The Age U-shape in Europe: The Protective Role of Partnership," Post-Print halshs-03029862, HAL.
    8. Andrew E. Clark & Hippolyte d'Albis & Angela Greulich, 2020. "The Age U-shape in Europe: The Protective Role of Partnership," Working Papers halshs-02872212, HAL.
    9. Setareh Ranjbar & Stefan Sperlich, 2020. "A Note on Empirical Studies of Life-Satisfaction: Unhappy with Semiparametrics?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(6), pages 2193-2212, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David G. Blanchflower & Carol L. Graham, 2022. "The Mid-Life Dip in Well-Being: a Critique," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 287-344, May.
    2. Piper, Alan, 2023. "Age and Happiness," MPRA Paper 117556, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Piper, Alan, 2024. "In a dark wood: an exploration of the midlife low in human wellbeing and a research agenda," MPRA Paper 121612, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Piper, Alan, 2022. "There is a mid-life low in well-being in Germany," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    5. Begoña Álvarez, 2022. "The Best Years of Older Europeans’ Lives," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 227-260, February.
    6. John F. Helliwell & Haifang Huang & Max B. Norton & Shun Wang, 2019. "Happiness at Different Ages: The Social Context Matters," Springer Books, in: Mariano Rojas (ed.), The Economics of Happiness, chapter 0, pages 455-481, Springer.
    7. Fulvio Castellacci & Henrik Schwabe, 2020. "Internet, unmet aspirations and the U-shape of life," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Biermann, Philipp & Bitzer, Jürgen & Gören, Erkan, 2022. "The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Estimating within and between effects simultaneously," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    9. Deaton, Angus, 2018. "What do self-reports of wellbeing say about life-cycle theory and policy?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 18-25.
    10. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2019. "Do Humans Suffer a Psychological Low in Midlife? Two Approaches (With and Without Controls) in Seven Data Sets," Springer Books, in: Mariano Rojas (ed.), The Economics of Happiness, chapter 0, pages 439-453, Springer.
    11. Georgellis, Yannis & Clark, Andrew E. & Apergis, Emmanuel & Robinson, Catherine, 2022. "Occupational status and life satisfaction in the UK: The miserable middle?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 509-527.
    12. Junji Kageyama & Kazuma Sato, 2021. "Explaining the U-shaped life satisfaction: dissatisfaction as a driver of behavior," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 179-202, July.
    13. Jan C. van Ours, 2021. "What a drag it is getting old? Mental health and loneliness beyond age 50," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(31), pages 3563-3576, July.
    14. Blanchflower, David G. & Piper, Alan, 2021. "The well-being age U-shape effect in Germany is not flat," GLO Discussion Paper Series 921, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Jürgen Bitzer & Erkan Gören & Heinz Welsch, 2024. "How the wellbeing function varies with age: the importance of income, health and social relations over the lifecycle," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 809-836, July.
    16. Christoph K. Becker & Stefan T. Trautmann, 2022. "Does Happiness Increase in Old Age? Longitudinal Evidence from 20 European Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3625-3654, October.
    17. Mujcic, Redzo & Oswald, Andrew J., 2018. "Is envy harmful to a society's psychological health and wellbeing? A longitudinal study of 18,000 adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 103-111.
    18. Amy Chan Hyung Kim & Jungsu Ryu & Chungsup Lee & Kyung Min Kim & Jinmoo Heo, 2021. "Sport Participation and Happiness Among Older Adults: A Mediating Role of Social Capital," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1623-1641, April.
    19. Philippe Tessier & Josselin Thuilliez, 2018. "Does freedom make a difference?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(8), pages 1189-1205, November.
    20. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2019. "Unhappiness and Pain in Modern America: A Review Essay, and Further Evidence, on Carol Graham's Happiness for All?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(2), pages 385-402, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1229. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sodiwde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.