former GC here. I can't speak for every family, but in general our relationship with our parents can be much more complex than it appears. I was forced into a role for years that really denied me of a lot of typical adolescent experiences: I felt pressured to be perfect and this came at the expense of my social life and, to some extent, my physical health. I fucked up like any other kid, but I was so pathologically secretive that it rarely came to light because when it did I was mocked. Fortunately, the friends I made in adulthood showed me that this is not normal and that I don't need to worry about being mocked for my flaws. This has helped me even out and normalize to the extent that I am able to discuss topics related to our mom's narcissism without getting emotional or feeling like I need to take sides.

My sister, our scapegoat, on the other hand became a bit of a narcissist herself. She has become a person who is increasingly content to do the bare minimum to get by, happy to accept kindnesses and favors from our family while simultaneously trash-talking them. Our Edad ended up in the hospital for a stress-induced condition recently, while my SGsister had complained not two hours previously on twitter that she wished he'd "get his lazy ass over here [to help her and her gf clean the house he bought them.]" It's really sick and makes me want to cut them both out of my life entirely.

Anyway, this whole situation with my family makes me wonder if being scapegoated as a child can lead to narcissistic tendencies in adulthood. That perhaps, by learning that you have been a victim in the past, that it's not too much of a mental leap to then consider yourself entitled to extra kindnesses. I have no doubt that being a GC can trigger narcissism and worse, so I consider myself lucky that I escaped with only fleas.