The Relationship between Covert Narcissism and Relational Aggression in Adolescents: Mediating Effects of Internalized Shame and Anger Rumination

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the pass model of the causal relationships among covert narcissism, internalized shame, anger rumination, and relational aggression. Also, another purpose was to verify internalized shame and anger rumination mediated between covert narcissism and relational aggression. For this study, data were collected from 653 students (336 males, 317 females) at eleven Korean high schools and were analyzed with the method of structural equation modeling. The results supported our hypothetical model. First, our findings in this study demonstrated that covert narcissism was associated with relational aggression. Second, path analysis revealed that both internalized shame and anger rumination mediated the relationship between covert narcissism and relational aggression. In addition, anger rumination mediated the relationship between internalized shame and relational aggression. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.