Philip Stoner, an advanced doctoral student currently completing his predoctoral internship at the Federal Correctional Complex in Petersburg, VA, successfully defended his dissertation today. Philip’s study utilized structural equation modeling to test key components of Hooley and Franklin’s (2018) benefits and barriers model for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Using a sample of college women, he found that adverse childhood experiences predicted NSSI and that this relationship was partially mediated by self-esteem, peer-bonding motivation, and shame. Philip followed this analysis with invariance testing to examine the moderating influence of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. His findings have many interesting implications that should be helpful for mental health professionals working with college students.

Congratulations to Philip on a very impressive defense!

Tags: narcissism, suicide

Philip Stoner, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab at the University of Southern Mississippi successfully proposed his dissertation this week. Philip’s dissertation will test some aspects of Hooley and Franklin’s (2018) benefits and barriers model for understanding non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among college women.

Of particular relevance to our work in the lab and building on his prior thesis work, Philip plans to incorporate grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as potential moderators of some of the expected relationships he will be testing between theoretically relevant predictors and NSSI.

Much like Ali’s recent thesis defense, Philip’s dissertation proposal took place online through Microsoft Teams. Everything worked as intended, and one would never had guessed that he hadn’t presented like this before.

Congratulations to Philip on the successful proposal!

Tags: narcissism, suicide

Philip Stoner, a student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully defended his master’s thesis this week. Philip’s thesis, Vulnerable narcissism, self-criticism, and self-injurious behavior: Emotion regulation as a moderator, explored the relationship of vulnerable narcissism and difficulties in emotion regulation to self-criticism and self-injurious behavior in a college student sample.

He found that vulnerable narcissism was positively related to both self-injury and self-criticism and that difficulties in emotion regulation moderated the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism. Specifically, the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and self-criticism was stronger at higher levels of emotion dysregulation. Although some of Philip’s results were unexpected and may lead us to carry out additional analyses on his data, his thesis should be useful in informing the development of his dissertation. For his dissertation, Philip has expressed interest in studying the constellation of personality traits referred to as the Vulnerable Dark Triad (i.e., borderline personality, vulnerable narcissism, and secondary psychopathy).

Tags: emotion regulation, narcissism, suicide

Philip Stoner, a first-year student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi, successfully proposed his master’s thesis today. Philip’s thesis will examine the relationship of vulnerable narcissism and emotion dysregulation in self-injurious behavior and self-criticism.

Both vulnerable narcissism and emotion dysregulation have been linked to suicidality in previous studies; however, relatively little is known about the relationship of these factors to self-injurious behavior and self-criticism in non-clinical settings. Philip’s study will use a college student sample and is anticipated to generate some useful information about the important topic of college student mental health.

Congratulations to Philip on the successful proposal!

Tags: suicide, emotion regulation, narcissism