Identifying Risk for Self‐Harm: Rumination and Negative Affectivity in the Prospective Prediction of Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury

Abstract

Research suggests nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) may function as a maladaptive strategy to regulate negative emotions, and individuals high in trait negative affectivity (NA) may be particularly at risk. Rumination, a cognitive emotion regulation strategy, may amplify negative affect, increasing the likelihood of NSSI. The current study found that high NA and high rumination interacted to predict both likelihood of engagement in NSSI and frequency of NSSI. This study provides support for the joint contribution of cognitive and temperamental factors impacting the relationship between NA and NSSI and suggests that interventions targeted at maladaptive emotion regulation strategies may help inform individualized treatment.

Fluctuations in Affective States and Self-Efficacy to Resist Non-Suicidal Self-Injury as Real-Time Predictors of Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors

“…Empirical work supports that affect regulation is the most common reported reason for NSSI (27), and, consequently, many studies have focused on the predictive value of affective traits at the between-person level (28). This work revealed that both higher trait negative affect (i.e., tendency to experience more negative emotions) and lower trait positive affect (i.e., tendency to experience less positive emotions) are associated with risk of lifetime (29)(30)(31) and future NSSI behavior (32,33). In line with this, emotional problems (especially anxiety and depressive symptoms) have been identified as risk factors of NSSI at the between-person level (18,19,34).…”

“…As suggested by the Cognitive-Emotion Model of NSSI (23), we expected that self-efficacy to resist NSSI would negatively predict the occurrence of NSSI behavior above and beyond NSSI thoughts. Finally, in keeping with empirical work at the between-person level (18,19,(32)(33)(34), an additional aim of the study was to evaluate trait negative affect, trait positive affect, self-efficacy to resist NSSI, and anxiety and depressive symptoms assessed at baseline as prospective predictors of NSSI thoughts and behaviors (Objective 3). Consistent with previous research and the ideation-to-action framework (18,19,47,49,50), we hypothesized that depressive symptoms would uniquely predict mean-level of NSSI thoughts over time but not probability of NSSI behavior, whereas the opposite pattern of results was expected for selfefficacy to resist NSSI.…”

Common Pathways to NSSI and Suicide Ideation: The Roles of Rumination and Self-Compassion

“…A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t Self-report, experimental, and ecological momentary assessment studies offer support for Emotional Cascade Theory, evidencing strong links between escalating rumination and NSSI (Arbuthnott, Lewis, & Bailey, 2015;Bresin & Verona, 2016;Nicolai, et al, 2016;Selby, Franklin, Carson-Wong, & Rizvi, 2013). Similarly, there is a strong relationship between rumination and suicide ideation (Morrison & O'Connor, 2008;Rogers and Joiner, 2017).…”

Pathological Narcissism and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

“…For the purposes of this study, we focused analyses on the lifetime frequency of specific NSSI behaviors and did not consider functions of NSSI. In general, more research with the ISAS focuses on the frequency scales than the functions scales (e.g., Brausch & Boone, 2015;Hamza & Willoughby, 2013;Klonsky, May, & Glenn, 2013;Nicolai, Wielgus, & Mezulis, 2016).…”