The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of
dysfunctional and functional anger expression on the relationships between
covert narcissism and dating violence among college students. Also the study
investigated the gender difference on the associations of covert narcissism,
dating violence, and dysfunctional and functional anger expression For this purpose, a total of 339 college students with heterosexual dating experience
(133 males, 206 females) in Busan Metropolitan area were collected and
analyzed with Covert Narcissism Scale (CNS), the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale
2 (CTS-2), and Korean adaptation of the Sstate-Trait Anger eXpression
Inventory (STAXI-K). The results were as followed; First, covert narcissism,
dating violence, and dysfunctional and functional anger expression were
significantly different according to gender.
Second, There were statistically significant correlations between covert
narcissism, dating violence, and dysfunctional and functional anger expression.
Third, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of
covert narcissism, dysfunctional and functional anger expression on dating
violence aggression and , showed that dysfunctional anger expression had a
significant positive effect on the dating violence and the functional anger
expression had significant negative influence in male students. In comparison,
the dysfunctional anger expression reported a statistically significant positive
effect on the dating violence but the functional anger expression did not have
a significant effect.
Fourth, the mediating effects of dysfunctional and functional anger
expression in the relationships between covert narcissism and dating violence
were investigated and showed that dysfunctional anger expression was found to
be mediated completely on the relationships between covert narcissism and
dating violence both in males and females. But, functional anger expression did
not show mediating effects. The present study suggest that it is necessary to
develop the dysfunctional anger control program in males, which might
functionally handle the anger expression in those with the covert narcissistic
tendency. The importance of prevention and counseling program in dating violence was further discussed for future research.