Two other important factors are lack of affection from parents and exposure to violence in the home.
The conclusions come from a Spanish study of 591 adolescents.
Narcissistic children were likely to be aggressive towards parents when they didn't get what they wanted.
Dr Esther Calvete, the study's first author, said:
"On occasions adolescents assault their parents because the parents themselves have been violent towards the children or among themselves.Dr Calvete explained how narcissism fits into the picture:
Through exposure to family violence, children learn to be violent.
Other times, it is the lack of affectionate and positive communication between parents and their children, the lack of quality time that is dedicated to the children, or permissive parenting styles that do not impose limits."
"In some cases we can observe that element of narcissism: it concerns adolescents who feel that they should have everything that they want, right here and now.The researchers interviewed 591 adolescents and analysed the relationship between narcissism and aggression.
They don't take no for an answer.
When their parents try to establish limits, the children react aggressively."
Education and upbringing are key to curbing these problems, Dr Calvete said:
"If the parents do not raise their children with a sense of responsibility and respect, it is easy for the children to develop problems of aggressive behaviour.The study's authors share one email they received from a worried mother about her aggressive son.
If the parents were violent when the children were small, it increases the risk of aggressive behaviour in children.
But the behaviour displayed by fathers and mothers is not the only element.
The temperament of the children is another important component, and some boys and girls are more impulsive and learn violent behaviour more easily,"
She wrote:
"Our son sees himself as above everything.Narcissism is at the root of these problems, the researchers say, and treatment should be directed at reducing it.
The other night I told him that he should stop looking at himself in the mirror, that he looked good.
And he hit the roof.
His father later told him that he had no right to talk to me in that manner.
But my son has become more and more verbally aggressive, and the situation has deteriorated into violence.
He hit my husband, who is recovering from bruised ribs and a broken jaw.
The problem is that he continues to think that he is right.
According to him, it's he who feels threatened,"
The study was published in the journal Developmental Psychology (Calvete et al., 2015).
Comment: What may really be at root in many of these issues are called "errors in thinking" as Stanton Samenow elucidates in his book "Inside the Criminal Mind." The type of behavior described sets the perfect stage for criminality down the road, and if left unchecked eventually lead to hardship for themselves and many others. Most standards treatments end up failing because the patient doesn't consider themselves to have anything wrong with them in the first place, it's everyone else who has a problem. They're 'perfect', 'unique', 'entitled' - they're narcissists!