The relationship between narcissism and emotion dysregulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the strength of the relationship between trait narcissism and emotion dysregulation. PsycINFO, MEDLINE Complete, Scopus, Embase, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global databases were searched on 7 January 2026 for two concepts: narcissism and emotion dysregulation. Included studies were written in English, included adult samples, used validated self-report measures of narcissism and emotion dysregulation, and reported their relationship. Risk of bias was assessed with the AXIS tool. Twenty-six studies ( N = 12,209) comprising 80 effect sizes were included in a random-effects meta-analysis using robust variance estimation, which revealed a significant, weak, positive correlation between trait narcissism and emotion dysregulation ( r = 0.15, CI [0.09, 0.21]). Moderator analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between emotion dysregulation and vulnerable narcissism ( r = 0.37, CI [0.29, 0.45]), but not grandiose narcissism ( r = 0.04, CI [−0.02, 0.10]). Further moderator analyses revealed significant, weak, positive correlations between narcissism and specific emotion regulation difficulties (i.e., non-acceptance of emotions, impulse control difficulties, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies). The findings indicate that emotion dysregulation is moderately correlated with vulnerable narcissism, with preliminary evidence that narcissism is associated with difficulties involving emotional non-acceptance, impulse control, and access to emotion regulation strategies.