IN THIS PAPER, WE REPORT OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF envy in normal children with special emphasis on the changes in the content of envy and in the form in which envy is expressed over the course of the first five years of development. We also stress the role which envy or the envy constellation plays in the regulation of narcissistic well-being and self-esteem. We focus on normal envy and not on pathological envy.

We conceive of envy or the envy constellation as a complex state of mind that is object-related and comprised of ego, affect, and drive components. The affect accompanying the envy constellation probably varies in quantity and quality. In fact, it would be more precise to conceptualize this as a composite of one or more affects, e.g., rage, sadness. Most likely, the drive component of envy contributes to the quality and intensity of the experience and to the content of the fantasy. The regulation and expression of envy involve anticipatory and regulatory functions of the ego. Since envy