Abstract

The clinical literature on narcissistic families has often described the presence of a family scapegoat. To date, however, no research has empirically explored this phenomenon. This study investigated the relationship between perceived parental vulnerable and grandiose narcissism and scapegoating, and the impact of these on the symptoms of anxiety and depression in emerging adults, in a sample of 504 Australian adults (M_age = 22.38, SD_age = 3.63; 59.72% female, 38.09% male). A path model was tested, with perceived parental vulnerable and grandiose narcissism as predictors, scapegoating as a mediator, and participants’ anxiety and depression as outcomes, controlling for demographic variables and participants’ vulnerable and grandiose narcissism. Results indicated that higher perceived paternal grandiose narcissism had a direct effect on anxiety and depression, whereas perceived maternal vulnerable narcissism, perceived paternal vulnerable narcissism, and perceived maternal grandiose narcissism had indirect effects on anxiety and depression via scapegoating. Effect sizes were generally small to medium. These findings show that scapegoating is an important variable linking parental narcissism with negative psychological outcomes such as anxiety and depression in emerging adults.

摘要

关于自恋家庭的临床文献经常描述家庭替罪羊的存在。然而，迄今为止，还没有研究对这种现象进行实证探索。本研究以 504 名澳大利亚成年人为样本（ M_年龄= 22.38，SD_年龄），调查了感知到的父母脆弱与自大自恋和找替罪羊之间的关系，以及这些对新兴成年人焦虑和抑郁症状的影响= 3.63; 59.72% 女性，38.09% 男性）。测试了一个路径模型，将感知到的父母脆弱和夸大自恋作为预测变量，寻找替罪羊作为中介，将参与者的焦虑和抑郁作为结果，控制人口统计变量和参与者的脆弱和夸大自恋。结果表明，较高的父亲夸大自恋感知对焦虑和抑郁有直接影响，而母亲脆弱自恋感知、父亲脆弱自恋感知和母亲夸大自恋感知通过以下途径对焦虑和抑郁产生间接影响。替罪羊。效果大小通常从小到中等。这些发现表明，寻找替罪羊是将父母自恋与新兴成年人的焦虑和抑郁等负面心理结果联系起来的重要变量。