The familiar story says that young people are becoming more narcissistic and age eventually humbles them. Research supports one part of that story more than the other: narcissistic traits tend to decline across the lifespan, but the evidence does not give us a clean ranking of generations.
It also does not mean every self-centered teenager becomes an empathic adult or that an older person cannot be highly narcissistic. Personality changes at the population level while meaningful differences between individuals persist.
The 30-second answer
Longitudinal evidence suggests that narcissism generally decreases from childhood through older adulthood. A 2024 meta-analysis covering more than 37,000 people found declines in agentic, antagonistic and neurotic forms of narcissism. At the same time, rank-order stability was moderate to high: people who scored higher than their peers often remained relatively higher years later. Age describes a tendency, not a cure, diagnosis or forecast for one person.
What do psychologists mean by narcissism?
Everyday speech often uses “narcissist” to mean selfish, vain or abusive. Personality research is more specific and often separates several expressions:
- Agentic narcissism involves assertiveness, status seeking, charm and a desire for admiration.
- Antagonistic narcissism involves entitlement, rivalry, arrogance and willingness to devalue others.
- Neurotic narcissism involves insecurity, shame, hypersensitivity and a need for reassurance.
These dimensions can move differently and researchers do not all use exactly the same model. A person may be socially confident without being exploitative, or deeply sensitive to criticism without displaying obvious grandiosity.
Trait narcissism is also not the same as narcissistic personality disorder. A disorder requires a qualified clinical assessment of a persistent and pervasive pattern, its context and the impairment it causes. A research questionnaire—or an online description of someone you know—cannot make that diagnosis.
Does narcissism really decline as people age?
The strongest current summary says it usually does.
A 2024 meta-analysis of longitudinal studies combined 51 samples with 37,247 participants. Across the observed range from age 8 to 77, mean levels declined in all three forms: agentic, antagonistic and neurotic narcissism. Neurotic narcissism showed the largest average decline, followed by antagonistic and then agentic narcissism.
Those averages answer one question: how a population tends to change. They do not tell us where a particular person will end up.
The same analysis found substantial rank-order stability. In plain language, if someone was more narcissistic than most peers at one point, they were reasonably likely to remain above their peers later—even while their absolute level declined. Both statements can be true: the group moves down, and individual differences persist.
Why might narcissistic traits change?
The studies establish change more confidently than they establish a single cause. Several processes may contribute.
Social roles reward different behavior
Education, work, partnership, parenting and community roles can require cooperation, perspective taking and impulse control. Repeatedly meeting those demands may reinforce less self-focused patterns. But roles differ across people and cultures, and occupying a role does not automatically create maturity.
Goals change across life
Status, novelty and visible achievement may become more or less important as opportunities, responsibilities and time horizons change. Agentic qualities such as ambition and assertiveness may remain while rivalry or hypersensitivity becomes less useful.
Experience creates opportunities for revision
Feedback, setbacks and durable relationships can expose the limits of a grandiose self-image. Change depends on how a person responds. Humbling events can prompt reflection, denial, blame or some combination; hardship is not a guaranteed empathy treatment.
Claims that “brain chemistry makes older people less narcissistic” go beyond what the lifespan evidence demonstrates. Biological aging, social context and personal choices are difficult to separate, and the current research does not support a single neurological explanation.
Are younger generations more narcissistic?
“Which generation is worst?” is an appealing headline and a difficult scientific question.
Age, birth cohort and historical period overlap. If 20-year-olds score differently from 60-year-olds today, the cause could be development, the different worlds in which they grew up, the current moment or differences in who joined the study. Measures and cultural norms also change.
A 2019 longitudinal study by Chopik and Grimm followed 747 participants across six samples and ages 13 to 77. It found that hypersensitivity and willfulness declined while autonomy increased. Later-born cohorts were lower in hypersensitivity and higher in autonomy than earlier-born cohorts represented in the data. That finding directly contradicts an easy “younger equals more fragile” story, but the samples did not include today’s youngest adult generations.
The larger 2024 meta-analysis found that average declines held across the birth cohorts available in its studies. Its authors also cautioned that the evidence came mostly from Western, White or European samples. It would be a mistake to turn either study into a verdict about Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z or “Xennials.”
What does change look like in real life?
Trait change is rarely a cinematic personality reversal. More useful signs are behavioral:
- tolerating feedback without immediate counterattack;
- sharing credit and showing curiosity about another perspective;
- recognizing harm without making the apology about personal shame;
- respecting a boundary that brings no personal advantage;
- making a specific repair and sustaining it after attention has moved on; and
- accepting that confidence does not confer special rules.
Self-esteem is not the enemy. Stable self-worth can make it easier to acknowledge limits. The relational problem is a repeated pattern in which protecting status or entitlement takes priority over reality, reciprocity and other people’s needs.
Can someone deliberately become less narcissistic?
The lifespan findings show that traits are changeable, not that waiting is a treatment. Deliberate change is more plausible when a person:
- recognizes a costly pattern without outsourcing all blame;
- wants to change for reasons deeper than restoring their image;
- can receive clear, specific feedback;
- practices alternative behaviors repeatedly; and
- seeks professional help when patterns are entrenched or causing significant harm.
Progress should be judged over time and under stress. A persuasive explanation, one vulnerable conversation or a new piece of psychological vocabulary is not the same as changed behavior.
What does this mean for a relationship?
Do not use an average age curve to predict whether a partner, parent, colleague or friend will change. Ask what is happening now.
If a person repeatedly lies, humiliates, coerces, retaliates or ignores boundaries, you do not need to establish narcissism before responding. Set limits based on the behavior and its effect. If you feel unsafe, seek individual support from an appropriate professional or specialist service.
Conversely, a person who enjoys attention or sometimes becomes defensive is not automatically disordered. Context, frequency, severity, flexibility and capacity for repair all matter.
Frequently asked questions
Does narcissism decrease with age?
On average, yes. All three broad forms declined across ages 8 to 77 in a 2024 synthesis, although individual paths vary.
Can a narcissistic person change?
Traits can change, but change is usually gradual and requires motivation plus repeated behavior. Growing older alone is not proof of greater accountability.
Is narcissism the same as narcissistic personality disorder?
No. Traits exist on continua. A personality disorder is a clinical diagnosis based on a pervasive pattern and impairment, assessed by a qualified professional.
Are younger generations more narcissistic?
Research does not support a simple generational ranking. Development, cohort, historical period and measurement are easily confused, and current longitudinal samples have limited cultural diversity.
What are the three forms of narcissism?
Agentic narcissism emphasizes status and admiration, antagonistic narcissism entitlement and rivalry, and neurotic narcissism insecurity and hypersensitivity. Terminology varies across studies.
Should I wait for someone to grow out of narcissism?
No. Make decisions from current conduct and sustained evidence of change. Population trends cannot promise an individual outcome.
Research cited
- Orth, U., Krauss, S., & Back, M. D. (2024). Development of narcissism across the life span: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 150(6), 643–665.
- Chopik, W. J., & Grimm, K. J. (2019). Longitudinal changes and historic differences in narcissism from adolescence to older adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 34(8), 1109–1123.
This article provides general psychological information and is not a diagnostic assessment.