Citation

Duncan-Plummer T, Hasking P, Tonta K, Boyes M. J. Affect. Disord. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.054

PMID

36828146

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Contemporary models of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) suggest that emotional vulnerabilities, negative self-schemas, and beliefs about NSSI work together to differentiate students who self-injure from those who do not. However, it is unclear how these mechanisms are differentially related among students with and without a history of NSSI. Considering this, we used a network analysis approach to explore how students with and without a history of NSSI vary in processing their emotional experiences in relation to their self-concepts and beliefs about NSSI.

METHOD: A sample of 480 university students (M(age) = 21.18, SD = 2.43; 73.5 % female) completed self-report measures about their perceived emotional experiences (e.g., emotional reactivity, emotion regulation difficulties), self-concepts (e.g., self-esteem, self-efficacy), and NSSI.

RESULTS: A network comparison test revealed that students with a history of NSSI perceived themselves to have difficulties regulating particularly intense, unwanted negative emotions. In light of this, students with a history of NSSI expected some benefits of NSSI (e.g., emotion regulation) regardless of potential barriers (e.g., pain). Conversely, for students without a history of NSSI, expecting NSSI to have aversive outcomes was closely tied to expecting NSSI to have few benefits. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design limits inferences to be made about the network structures.

CONCLUSIONS: Students with and without a history of NSSI appear to differ in their cognitive processing of negative emotions and strategies used to deal with these emotions.

Language: en

Keywords

Emotion regulation; Network analysis; Non-suicidal self-injury; Benefits and barriers; Cognitive-emotional; Network comparison test