Mechanisms of Contextual Risk for Adolescent Self-Injury: Invalidation and Conflict Escalation in Mother–Child Interactions

Abstract

According to developmental theories of self-injury, both child characteristics and environmental contexts shape and maintain problematic behaviors. Although progress has been made toward identifying biological vulnerabilities to self-injury, mechanisms underlying psychosocial risk have received less attention. In the present study, we compared self-injuring adolescents (n = 17) with typical controls (n = 20) during a mother–child conflict discussion. Dyadic interactions were coded using both global and microanalytic systems, allowing for a highly detailed characterization of mother–child interactions. We also assessed resting state psychophysiological regulation, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Global coding revealed that maternal invalidation was associated with adolescent anger. Furthermore, maternal invalidation and coerciveness were both related to adolescent opposition/defiance. Results from the microanalytic system indicated that self-injuring dyads were more likely to escalate conflict, suggesting a potential mechanism through which emotion dysregulation is shaped and maintained over time. Finally, mother and teen aversiveness interacted to predict adolescent resting RSA. Low-aversive teens with highly aversive mothers had the highest RSA, whereas teens in high–high dyads showed the lowest RSA. These findings are consistent with theories that emotion invalidation and conflict escalation are possible contextual risk factors for self-injury.