In all honesty I think it’s purely genetics. If you think about it, narcissism is a dominant trait. My mom isn’t a narcissist so the chances of me getting the “gene” for narcissism was 25% I’m the fourth and youngest child so I have a lot of characteristics and genes that they don’t. For instance, I’m the only one in my family that’s over 6 feet tall, the only one with a widows peak, only one that needed glasses etc. I had the polar opposite personality as a child and I always perceived the world from everyone else’s perspective even disregarding my own at times.
The fact that I had this perception of the world from a reality other than my own is how I came to understand narcissism. I would always question why my family would do things and when I understood narcissism as a teen it all clicked. Once I became an adult and moved out I never spoke to them again and I’ve been happy ever since.
Like another poster said some people are just energy vampires. One day my dad sent me an email questioning why I haven’t spoken to my family in years. I had hope that he changed until the read the rest of the email where he basically bragged about all of his accomplishments over the last couple of years that we haven’t spoke. Not once did he ask about my well being. It was like a coli humble brag thread. Reminded me that I made the right decision