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

This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the strength of the relationship between narcissism and alexithymia. PsycINFO, Scopus, MEDLINE Complete, Embase, and ProQuest One Academic databases were searched on 13 July 2025 for two concepts: narcissism and alexithymia. Included studies were written in English, comprised adult samples, used validated measures of trait narcissism and alexithymia, and examined their relationship. Quality and risk of bias was assessed using the AXIS tool. Fourteen studies ( N = 8006 participants) were included in a random effects meta-analysis, which revealed a non-significant, positive, negligible correlation between narcissism and alexithymia ( k = 14, r = 0.03, CI [−0.04, 0.10]). Moderator analyses revealed a significant, negative, negligible correlation between grandiose narcissism and alexithymia ( k = 7, r = −0.08, CI [−0.15, −0.01]). In contrast, combined narcissism (including vulnerable and grandiose subtypes) had a significant, positive, negligible correlation with alexithymia ( k = 6, r = 0.09, CI [0.02, 0.15]). A significant, positive, weak correlation was observed between narcissism and the difficulty identifying feelings dimension of alexithymia ( k = 5, r = 0.14, CI [0.5, 0.22]). Only one included study measured vulnerable narcissism, highlighting the need for future research to examine the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and alexithymia.