Examining the mechanisms by which adverse life events affect having a history of self-harm, and the protective effect of social support

Tham, Su-Gwan; Ibrahim, Said A.; Hunt, Isabelle M.; Kapur, Navneet; Gooding, Patricia

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.037

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…After analyzing the relationship between life stress and hopelessness, we observed that people who have experienced stressful life events have higher indicators of hopelessness. Similar data were reported in a previous study, 36 in which a relationship between negative life stressors and hopelessness was observed. Another study examined the relationship between negative life events, hopelessness, and suicidal behavior, and established a strong link between them.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Stressful life events and hopelessness in adults: the mediating role of mentalization and emotional dysregulation

Parada-Fernández

Herrero-Fernández

Oliva-Macías

et al. 2021

Braz. J. Psychiatry

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Objective: Hopelessness is considered a risk factor for several mental and behavioral disorders. Research has shown that a stressful life event can be a significant predictor of hopelessness. The aim of the current research study was to explore the relationship between stressful life events and hopelessness, as well as to analyses the mediation effect of both mentalization and emotional dysregulation on this relationship. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 607 participants recruited from the Spanish general population completed a series of measures. Results: Hopelessness was significantly related to stressful life events (r = 0.24, p o 0.001), emotion dysregulation variables (r = 0.18/0.38), and most measures of mentalization (r = 0.02/0.34). A goodfitting structural equation modeling-based mediation model (w 2 /df = 2.04; root mean squared error of approximation = 0.042 [90%CI 0.033-0.050]; comparative fit index = 0.97; non-normed fit index = 0.97) showed that mentalization significantly mediated the relationship between stressful life events and hopelessness, while emotion dysregulation had no significant mediating effect. Conclusions: These results could have important clinical implications, such as the development of mentalization-based interventions for people living under a large number of stressors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Stressful life events and hopelessness in adults: the mediating role of mentalization and emotional dysregulation

Parada-Fernández

Herrero-Fernández

Oliva-Macías

et al. 2021

Braz. J. Psychiatry

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“…Social consequences caused more concerns than economic ones. This result goes in line with other research showing that social support is very important for coping with adverse life events and reduces hopelessness (Tham, Ibrahim, Hunt, Kapur, & Gooding, 2020).…”

Section: Anxiety Regarding Covid-19supporting

confidence: 93%

Risk, resilience, psychological distress, and anxiety at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Germany

et al. 2020

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“…3 In support of this, better quality social support acted as a moderator of the impact of adversity experiences on self-harm behaviours, which echoes research from before the current pandemic. 18,19 Further, higher levels of loneliness exacerbated the impact of adversity experiences on self-harm behaviours. It is notable that the associations were specifically with self-harm behaviours; neither social support nor loneliness buffered the relationship between adversity experiences and thoughts about self-harm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More frequent contact with others as well as the quality of one’s social support has been shown to provide a buffer against the likelihood of self-harm in the context of acute stressors such as financial difficulties or relationship breakdown. 18,19 Given that the most commonly cited reasons for self-harm are to relieve suffering and manage distress, 20,21 it follows that having access to supportive, understanding others would help mitigate the adverse consequences occurring in the context of the pandemic. However, social restrictions imposed in the current circumstances may have severely limited access to drawing on and maintaining connections vital to reducing the impact of this stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did social factors buffer against the effect of adversities on self-harm during the COVID-19 pandemic? A longitudinal analysis of 49,227 UK adults

Paul

2021

Preprint

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Background: Little is known about which factors exacerbate and buffer the impact of COVID-19 -related adversities on changes in thinking about and engaging in self-harm over time. Aims: To examine how changes in four social factors contribute to changes in self-harm thoughts and behaviours over time and how these factors in turn interact with adversities and worries about adversities to increase risk for these outcomes. Method: Data from 49,227 UK adults in the UCL COVID-19 Social Study were analysed across the first 59 weeks of the pandemic. Fixed effects logistic regressions examined time-varying associations between social support quality, loneliness, number of days of face-to-face contact for > 15 minutes, and number of days phoning/video calling for >15 minutes with self-harm thoughts and behaviours. We then examined how these four factors in turn interacted with the total number of adversities and worries about adversity on outcomes. Results: Increases in the quality of social support decreased the likelihood of both outcomes, whilst greater loneliness increased their likelihood. Associations were inconsistent for telephone/video contact and face-to-face contact with outcomes. Social support buffered and loneliness exacerbated the impact of adversity experiences with self-harm behaviours. Other interactions were inconsistent, and some were in the unexpected direction. Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of the quality of social support, rather than the mere presence of contact, is important for reducing the likelihood of self-harm behaviours in the context of COVID-19 pandemic-related adversity and worry.

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Examining the mechanisms by which adverse life events affect having a history of self-harm, and the protective effect of social support

Cited by 21 publications

References 66 publications

Stressful life events and hopelessness in adults: the mediating role of mentalization and emotional dysregulation

Stressful life events and hopelessness in adults: the mediating role of mentalization and emotional dysregulation

Risk, resilience, psychological distress, and anxiety at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic in Germany

Did social factors buffer against the effect of adversities on self-harm during the COVID-19 pandemic? A longitudinal analysis of 49,227 UK adults

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