A new meta-analysis sheds light on the link between covert narcissism and difficulties managing emotions, offering empirical backing to recent public discussions of the trait.
Study scope and participant profile
Researchers from the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University examined 26 studies published between 2015 and 2025. The combined sample exceeded 12,000 adults aged 18 to 62 from multiple continents. Participants spanned North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, providing a broad cross-cultural perspective.
The review appeared in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. All included works used self-report questionnaires that measured narcissistic traits, allowing a systematic comparison across diverse populations.
Taylor Swift’s comment linked to scientific findings
The researchers defined emotion dysregulation as difficulty understanding, modulating, and responding to emotional experiences in an adaptive manner that aligns with personal goals, developmental expectations, and social norms. Their systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify how narcissistic traits relate to this form of dysregulation. By synthesizing findings across the included investigations, the team sought empirical evidence for the connection.
The study was highlighted after Taylor Swift described herself as a covert narcissist, prompting public curiosity. Researchers noted that the new evidence offers a scientific basis for interpreting such self-descriptions.
Findings on narcissism subtypes
The authors grouped the questionnaires into three categories: grandiose narcissism, vulnerable (or covert) narcissism, and a combined measure that did not fit either subtype. From the 26 studies, they extracted 80 individual statistical correlations.
Read Also: Metro PR Finds Success Through Adaptation
Robust variance estimation accounted for multiple effect sizes drawn from the same participant groups. Effect-size conventions labeled correlations of 0.10-0.29 as small, 0.30-0.49 as medium, and 0.50 or higher as large.
Overall, the analysis produced a weak positive correlation of 0.15 between narcissism in general and emotion dysregulation. This suggests that higher narcissistic scores are only slightly associated with challenges in regulating feelings.
When broken down by subtype, vulnerable narcissism showed a moderate positive correlation of 0.37 with emotional dysregulation. By contrast, grandiose narcissism yielded a non-significant correlation of 0.04, while the combined category registered a weak correlation of 0.25.
“The relationship with vulnerable narcissism was moderate in size, which is quite a meaningful relationship in individual differences research,” senior author Megan L. Willis told PsyPost. “Narcissism reflects a cluster of personality traits, so we wouldn’t expect any single psychological factor to explain it. The size of the relationship suggests that difficulties regulating emotions are an important part of the psychological profile of people high in vulnerable narcissism.”
Willis and co-authors propose that interventions such as dialectical behavior therapy or schema therapy, which target emotion regulation, could be especially beneficial for individuals identified as high in the covert type.
Leave a Reply