Influence of adolescents’ tendency to catastrophise on non-suicidal self-injury behaviour: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

Adolescence is the peak period of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviour, and it is also a period when the prevention and intervention in NSSI are frequently required. To explore the relationship between catastrophising and NSSI and its mechanism, the mediating effects of parental support and negative emotions on catastrophising and NSSI were analysed. A questionnaire was administered to 401 middle school students with a history of NSSI behaviour from 12 schools in Guangxi. (1) Adolescents’ catastrophising tendencies positively predicted their NSSI status through negative emotions (B = 0.274, P < 0.001). The more severe the adolescents’ catastrophising tendency, the more likely they were to have stronger negative emotions and thus show an increased NSSI level. (2) Parental support played a positive moderating role between the tendency to catastrophise and negative emotions (B = −0.101, t = −2.694, P < 0.01), and it had a protective effect on adolescents’ NSSI. Catastrophising was less likely to induce the NSSI behaviour by reducing adolescents’ negative emotions (B = −0.104, t = −2.313, P < 0.05); however, it should be noted that only parental affective support, informative support, and instrumental support played a significant mediating role. Parental support of adolescents has positive effects on the tendency to catastrophise, negative emotions, and NSSI, and it has some implications for the prevention and intervention of adolescents’ NSSI.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behavior in Adolescents and Neuropsychology: An Integrative Review From 2015 to 2022

“…All the papers (100%) used the terms emotion dysregulation or emotion regulation at least one time in the manuscripts. Four times the term was searched in view of relation NSSI and suicide (Brausch et al, 2022;Brausch & Woods, 2019;Chen & Chun, 2019;Kim et al, 2020), and ten times was combined with other dimensions (Cerutti et al, 2018;Gu et al, 2022;Kiekens et al, 2015;Lan et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2022;Lutz et al, 2022;Mozafari et al, 2022;Wan et al, 2020;Xavier et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2022). These results reinforce the strong association between NSSI and suicide risk in adolescents, as an established important factor pointed out in the specialized literature (Brausch et al, 2022;Brausch & Woods, 2019;Chen & Chun, 2019;Kim et al, 2020).…”

“…This kind of perfectionism describes the propensity "to interpret even the smallest of mistakes as indicative of failure, combined with a belief that failure will result in the loss of others' respect" (Kawamura & Frost, 2004, as cited in Gu et al, 2022. Lan et al (2022) explore the relationship between catastrophizing emotion, NSSI, and parental support for negative emotions, and found that catastrophizing tendency may contribute to the development of negative emotions, and it leads to triggering NSSI behavior on several levels. Catastrophizing emotion is a potential cognitive distortion of thinking, which involves a tendency to amplify negative feelings, anguish, and its possible bad consequences.…”

The impact of negative cognitive bias on NSSI: mediating non-adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies

“…Prior research has investigated the correlation between NSSI and variables, including "catastrophic" (a non-adaptive regulatory strategy) factors [ 26 , 27 ]. As per the cognitive-emotion paradigm, individuals who experience strong negative emotions, find it difficult to regulate these feelings, and perceive NSSI as a beneficial method for handling these emotions are more likely to engage in NSSI [ 28 ].…”

The Mediating Effect of Bullying on "Parental Support, Peer Support Matching" and NSSI Behavior among Adolescents

“…The reported prevalence of NSSI among Chinese adolescents ranges from 14-34%. (Han et al, 2018;Li et al, 2020;Lan et al, 2022;Hu et al, 2023), indicating the severity of the issue. Adolescent bullying has also been discussed extensively.…”