The roles of emotion regulation and ruminative thoughts in non-suicidal self-injury

This study explored how cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and facets of ruminative thinking could be brought together in a model to explain non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in the context of experiencing stressful life events and psychological distress.

Data from 2,507 participants aged 12-18 years (68% female, mean age 13.93 years) recruited from 40 Australian secondary schools were analysed, including 254 participants with a history of NSSI (72% female, mean age 14.21 years). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing the constructs of interest.

Although meeting minimum fit indices, our hypothesized model showed poorer fit compared to an empirically derived model. There was little evidence for the mediating role of psychological distress in NSSI, and we found adverse life events, psychological distress, emotion regulation, and two facets of ruminative thinking (counterfactual thinking and anticipatory thoughts) had direct, though weak, relationships with NSSI. Among the subsample of adolescents with a history of NSSI, anticipatory rumination moderated the relationship between psychological distress and NSSI, while cognitive reappraisal demonstrated a direct, although weak relationship with NSSI.

Our observations suggest that, among adolescents, contextual, social, and behavioural factors may have a strong influence on NSSI and this may suggest that prevention and treatment efforts for NSSI among adolescents need to focus on contextual, social, and behavioural factors.