Vulnerable Narcissism, Self-Criticism, and Self-Injurious Behavior: Emotion Regulation as a Moderator

<p>College students of traditional age have an elevated risk of self-injury (McManus et al., 2015). Self-injurious behavior (SIB) often indicates increased mental health concerns and elevated suicide risk (Whitlock, Eckenrode & Silverman, 2006). Self-criticism represents a non-physical form of self-injury (Baetens, et al., 2015), which is also associated with psychological distress and suicidal behavior. Thus, it is important to understand the risk factors associated with SIB and self-criticism. Vulnerable narcissism has been linked to self-injury (Dawood et al., 2017); however, there is little consensus about the nature of this relationship. Moreover, vulnerable narcissism has been associated with impaired emotion regulation (Ziegler-Hill & Vonk, 2015), and this relationship may strengthen any relationship that exists between vulnerable narcissism and forms of self-injury, as emotion dysregulation has been linked to increased risk of self-injury as well (Rajappa, Gallagher, & Miranda, 2011). The current study explored the relationship of vulnerable narcissism to SIB and self-criticism, as well as the moderating effects of emotion dysregulation, in a college student sample (<em>N</em> = 260). Vulnerable narcissism was positively related to both self-injury and self-criticism, and emotion dysregulation moderated the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism (i.e., the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism was stronger when higher levels of emotion dysregulation were present. The positive relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-injury did not vary at different levels of emotion dysregulation.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Stoner, Philip

Contributors dc:contributor

• Eric Dahlen
• Bonnie Nicholson
• Melanie Leuty

• Narcissism
• Self-Injury
• Emotion Regulation
• Self-Criticism
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/584

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1424