The Relationship Between University Students’ Covert Narcissism and Moving Away from People: The Sequential Mediating Effect of Self-Criticism and Experiential Avoidance

The purpose of this study was to examine the sequential mediating effects of self-criticism and experiential avoidance in the relationship between covert narcissism and moving away from people. A survey was conducted with 391 university students (128 males, 263 females), and the main findings are as follows. First, covert narcissism, moving away from people, self-criticism, and experiential avoidance were all significantly and positively correlated. Second, in the relationship between covert narcissism and moving away from people, the mediating effect of self-criticism was significant, whereas that of experiential avoidance was not. Third, the sequential mediating effect of self-criticism and experiential avoidance was also not statistically significant. Based on these results, the implications and limitations of the study were discussed, and suggestions for future research were provided.