Philip Stoner, a student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully defended his master’s thesis this week. Philip’s thesis, Vulnerable narcissism, self-criticism, and self-injurious behavior: Emotion regulation as a moderator, explored the relationship of vulnerable narcissism and difficulties in emotion regulation to self-criticism and self-injurious behavior in a college student sample.

He found that vulnerable narcissism was positively related to both self-injury and self-criticism and that difficulties in emotion regulation moderated the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism. Specifically, the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism was stronger at higher levels of emotion dysregulation. Although some of Philip’s results were unexpected and may lead us to carry out additional analyses on his data, his thesis should be useful in informing the development of his dissertation. For his dissertation, Philip has expressed interest in studying the constellation of personality traits referred to as the Vulnerable Dark Triad (i.e., borderline personality, vulnerable narcissism, and secondary psychopathy).

Tags: emotion regulation, narcissism, suicide