Ben Richmond flags a study on how coming of age during an economic recession lowers narcissism:
Published in the journal Psychological Science , the team from Emory University examined survey data from over 1,500 American adults, and found that participants who entered adulthood during a worse economic climate—when average unemployment was at 7.7 percent—scored 2.35 points lower on a 40-point narcissism scale than those who graduated in more prosperous times, when average unemployment was 4.3 percent. Better economic conditions later in life didn’t put the narcissism back on, either. It’s those formative “Best Top Ramen-Eating” years of your life that really do a number on you.
Recessions also impact CEOs’ narcissism:
A separate study in the paper analyzed the salaries of CEOs from more than 2,000 publicly traded companies. The researchers discovered that the CEOs who were 18 to 25 during sunnier economic climates paid themselves 2.26 times as much as the next most well-paid executive; compare that to CEOs who came of age during bleaker economic times, who paid themselves just 1.69 times as much (recent research has suggested that CEOs who pay themselves considerably more than colleagues immediately below them show higher rates of narcissism).
Julie Beck ponders what this all means:
It seems that the humbling experience of struggling through a recession shapes people, leaving them less narcissistic than they might have been had they found success in a thriving economy. However, the study notes that this could be both good and bad for the humbler children of recessions. “Narcissists are often well-liked in initial interactions and are effective at claiming resources for themselves,” Bianchi writes. “In this regard, the present results could help explain why entering the workforce in an economic boom continues to confer advantages even decades into people’s careers.”
The Dish 