This study examined the sequential mediation effects of internalized shame and self-criticism on the relationship between covert narcissism and social interaction anxiety. By testing the pathways from narcissism to social interaction anxiety, this stu...
This study examined the sequential mediation effects of internalized shame and self-criticism on the relationship between covert narcissism and social interaction anxiety. By testing the pathways from narcissism to social interaction anxiety, this study provides basic data for treating college students with social anxiety.
For this investigation, a survey was conducted to undergraduate students; the questionnaire included the Covert Narcissism Scale (CNS), Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Internalized Shame Scale (ISS), and self-criticism scale (Depressive Experiences Questionnaire; DEQ). The data from a total of 234 respondents was used for the following analyses.
First, Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among the primary variables. Second, the research model 1 and model 2 were tested by the Hayes’ procedures (2012) to verify the sequential mediating effects of internalized shame and self-criticism on the relationship between covert narcissism and social interaction anxiety. In addition, a bootstrapping procedure was used to test the significance of indirect effect. Third, the final model (the research model 1) was analyzed again through the aforementioned procedures after controlling for two sub-factors of covert narcissism (grandiose/exhibitionistic and vulnerable/hypersensitive) due to its presumed high correlations with both internalized shame and self-criticism.
The main findings are as follows. First, covert narcissism, social interaction anxiety, internalized shame, self-criticism were all positively correlated. Second, covert narcissism affects social interaction anxiety through the sequential mediation of internalized shame and self-criticism. Third, the research model 1 was significant even after controlling for the two sub-factors of covert narcissism.
The results indicate that covert narcissism has an effect on social interaction anxiety through internalized shame as an emotion variable and self-criticism as a cognitive variable, sequentially. This result suggests that covert narcissism is an important factor to treat social anxiety, and it merits considering counseling interventions that primarily focus on an emotional risk factor (e.g., shame) before treating a cognitive factor such as self-criticism of college students with social interaction anxiety.