Does Shaming Children Have the Opposite Effect?

Mental health professionals have long wondered about the relationship between shaming children and their subsequent behavior. An article published in Medical News Today December 28, 2008, “Shaming Some Kids Makes Them More Aggressive,” examines this issue. The findings of this research were published in the December 2008 issue of Child Development. The researchers studied,  “…..163 children ages 10 to 13, from Michigan middle schools. Almost all were white, and slightly more than half (54 percent) were males…A few weeks before participating in the on-line experiments, the young people filled out a questionnaire designed to assess their levels of self-esteem and narcissism…….For the experiment, children were told they would be competing on an Internet reaction-time game called FastKid! against an opponent of the same sex and age from a school in Columbus, Ohio (where the Buckeyes live!). In reality, there was no opponent; the computer controlled all events. Those who were randomly selected for the "shame condition" were told that their opponent was one of the worst players in the supposed tournament, and they should easily win; when they lost, their last-place ranking was displayed on a website they believed that everyone could see. Children were told they could blast their opponent with a loud noise after winning a trial.” And the results of the study? “ … The narcissistic kids were more aggressive than others, but only after they had been shamed….Narcissists seem highly motivated to create and maintain a grandiose view of self…They tend to interpret social situations in terms of how they reflect on the self, and they engage in self-regulatory strategies to protect self-esteem when they need to. As shameful situations constitute a threat to grandiosity, narcissistic shame-induced aggression can likely be viewed as defensive effort to maintain self-worth…[the researchers] …found that high self-esteem increased narcissistic shame-induced aggression.” There are several important implications of this study. First, parents of children with high degrees of narcissism should not engage in shaming as a way to control their child’s behavior. Second, school professionals should also avoid shaming their students with high levels of narcissism. Third, mental health professionals who treat children and adolescents who exhibit aggressive behaviors should screen these patients any past events of shaming. And, last of all public health professionals should educate both parents and school professionals about the negative consequences of shaming.

The Bottom Line: The results of this study suggest that shaming narcissistic adolescents may lead to aggressive behavior.    

Reference: Original article

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Dr. Jeffrey Speller

Dr. Tanya Korkosz

Psychopharmacology Associates of New England

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