The mediating role of hopelessness and emotional dysregulation on the relationship between invalidating environments in childhood and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents

Abstract

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) encompasses any self-inflicted harm to the body surface without suicidal intent. The main risk factors include invalidating environments during childhood, hopelessness, and emotional dysregulation, which are the primary variables studied in this work. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether there is an interaction between these variables and how they relate to the onset of NSSI in adolescents. A total of 1733 students aged 12 to 19 composed the sample (mean age of 15.76, SD = 1.77; n = 809, 46.7% male and n = 924, 53.3%, female). Descriptive statistics were calculated for the sample, along with the correlations between the different measured variables. Two mediation models were analyzed, with invalidating environments as the indirect variable and NSSI as the direct variable in both cases. Hopelessness was the mediating variable in one model and emotional dysregulation in the other. Results show that 24.6% of adolescents have self-injured at least once in their lifetime, and 12.7% have resorted to more severe methods. All analyzed variables positively and significantly correlate with NSSI, except for the attention/disattention subscale of emotional dysregulation. In both mediation models, both hopelessness and emotional dysregulation have an indirect effect on the relationship between invalidating environments by both father and mother and the onset of NSSI during adolescence. In conclusion, hopelessness and emotional dysregulation increase the risk of engaging in self-injurious behaviors during adolescence when invalidating situations have been experienced during childhood.