Self-Criticism and Depressive Symptoms Mediate the Relationship Between Emotional Experiences With Family and Peers and Self-Injury in Adolescence

Abstract

Although the relationship between negative childhood experiences, peer victimization, depressive symptoms and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is widely recognized, the mechanisms involved are not fully understood, especially among adolescents. This study aims to test the mediating role of both self-criticism and depressive symptoms in the relationship between memories of negative or positive experiences, current peer victimization and NSSI. The sample consists 854 Portuguese adolescents, 451 female and 403 male, with ages between 12 and 18 years (M = 14.89; SD = 1.79), from middle and secondary schools. Participants answered self-report measures. Results from path analysis showed that memories of negative experiences, the absence of positive memories with family in childhood and peer victimization indirectly impact on NSSI through self-criticism and depressive symptoms. In addition, these stressful experiences led to depressive symptoms through self-criticism. Lastly, the most severe form of self-criticism indirectly impacts on NSSI through depressive symptoms, even though it also has a strong direct effect. It suggests that negative experiences with parents and peer victimization, as well as the absence of positive memories with family, have a negative impact on NSSI when these experiences are linked with a sense of self-hatred and depressive symptoms.

Longitudinal Pathways for the Maintenance of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence: The Pernicious Blend of Depressive Symptoms and Self-Criticism

“…The Portuguese version presented good internal consistency in the adult non-clinical sample (α = .72 for hated self; Castilho et al, 2013). Other studies conducted with adolescent samples found Cronbach's alphas ranging between .79 and .80 for hated self (Xavier et al, 2016b(Xavier et al, , 2016c). Cronbach's alpha for hated self in the current study was .78 at T1 and .80 at T2.…”

“…On the one hand, this finding indicates that self-criticism is a stable characteristic in adolescence, as Shahar and colleagues (2004) have already demonstrated. On the other hand, this is a surprising result, given that across several studies girls tend to endorse more levels of selfcriticism than boys (e.g., Xavier et al, 2016bXavier et al, , 2016c. When longitudinal associations are analyzed, it seems that the reciprocal effects between self-criticism and depression occur for females and not for males (Shahar et al, 2004).…”

“…Thus, it seems that the dislike, hatred, and anger with the self are one reason to physically attack the self, even in the absence of depressive symptoms (Xavier et al, 2016b). Additionally, self-hatred proved to be a significant mediator between negative early environments and NSSI (Ammerman & Brown, 2016;Xavier et al, 2016c), despite the cross-sectional design of these studies.…”

Parent and peer relationships as longitudinal predictors of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury onset

“…It is also possible that peer victimization negatively influences social self-worth, or that impaired self-worth increases risk for peer victimization, such that these factors reinforce each other, magnifying the independent effects on subsequent NSSI. Further, prior research demonstrates an association between self-criticism and both peer victimization [64] and poor social self-worth [65]; these effects, therefore, may indicate an underlying risk for self-criticism, which is robustly associated with NSSI [50, 66–68].…”

Association between Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Parents and Peers Related Loneliness, and Attitude Towards Aloneness in Flemish Adolescents: An Empirical Note

“…Gender, age, and depression were added as covariates because they are known to influence NSSI (Xavier, Gouveia, & Cunha, 2016), loneliness, and positive and negative attitudes towards aloneness (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006; Maes et al, 2015). Given that both loneliness and NSSI were strongly related to depression (Nock, 2009; Qualter et al, 2010), we additionally controlled for depression.…”