Citation

Mo J, Wang C, Niu X, Jia X, Liu T, Lin L. J. Affect. Disord. 2019; 256: 259-266.

Affiliation

Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China; Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: linlin@tjnu.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2019.05.074

PMID

31200164

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Self-injury is one of the strongest predictors of suicide. Undergraduates have been recognized as one of the populations with the highest incidence of self-injury. A substantial body of literature has documented the important influence of impulsivity on self-injury. However, few studies have focused on the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship. Based on the stress generation hypothesis and the affect-regulation model of self-injury, this study constructed a chain mediating model to examine whether stressful life events and negative affect mediated the relationship between impulsivity and self-injury among Chinese undergraduates.

METHODS: A total of 2270 undergraduates (69.8% female, mean age = 19 years) were recruited to participate in this study and completed self-report measures of impulsivity, self-injury, stressful life events and negative affect.

RESULTS: (1) There were significant positive correlations among impulsivity, stressful life events, negative affect and self-injury. (2) After controlling for the effect of gender, impulsivity still had a significant positive effect on self-injury. (3) Undergraduates' self-injury was affected by impulsivity partly through 3 different pathways: the mediating role of stressful life events, the mediating role of negative affect, and the chain mediating role of both stressful life events and negative affect.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the risk factors for self-injury. Impulsivity, stressful life events, and negative affect might increase the occurrence of self-injury. In addition, the chain mediating effect of stressful life events and negative affect plays an important role in the occurrence of self-injury.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

A chain mediating effect; Impulsivity; Negative affect; Self-injury; Stressful life events