The Effect of Covert Narcissism on Relationship Addiction in Early Adulthood: The Double Mediating Effects of Distress Tolerance and Emotion Dysregulation

Background: This study examined the pathway through which covert narcissism leads to relationship addiction through distress tolerance and emotion dysregulation in early adulthood.Methods: Data were collected from 394 Korean adults aged 18–39 years who were recruited using online convenience sampling. Participants completed measures of covert narcissism, distress tolerance, emotion dysregulation, and relationship addiction. The PROCESS macro was used for data analysis.Results: Both distress tolerance and emotion dysregulation partially mediated the relationship between covert narcissism and relationship addiction. Their double mediating effect was also significant, and the direct effect of covert narcissism on relationship addiction remained significant. This pattern remained when gender was included as a covariate.Conclusions: Individuals with high covert narcissism are sensitive to negative evaluations and easily hurt, thereby lowering their capacity to tolerate distress and intensifying difficulties in emotion regulation. Subsequently, they attempt to fulfil their unmet needs through others and become excessively absorbed in relationships. Therefore, interventions may be more effective when self-compassion-based approaches are used first to strengthen distress tolerance, followed by emotion regulation skills training, such as dialectical behavior therapy.