Abstract
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has consistently been associated with self-reported difficulties in emotion reactivity and the regulation of negative emotions; however, less is known about the accuracy of these self-reports or the reactivity and regulation of positive emotions. The present study sought to investigate differences between women with and without a history of NSSI on: (a) self-reported general tendencies of negative and positive emotion reactivity, (b) self-reported general tendencies of negative and positive emotion regulation, and (c) emotion regulation reported in response to a positive and negative mood induction. The sample consisted of 36 women with a recent history of NSSI within the last 2 years (Mage = 20.06; SD = 1.51) and a comparison group with no history of NSSI (n = 34; Mage = 20.15; SD = 1.54). Participants completed self-report measures of negative and positive emotion reactivity and regulation. In a separate session, participants underwent both a negative and positive mood induction using a counterbalanced design and reported their experienced emotions. Results from two-way MANOVAs and ANOVAs revealed those with a history of NSSI reported significantly greater difficulties in negative emotion reactivity and regulation than the no-NSSI comparison group; however, no group differences emerged in self-reported reactivity or regulation of positive emotions. In contrast, repeated measures ANOVAs on data from the mood induction task found no group differences in reactivity or regulation for either negative or positive emotions. These findings highlight the possibility that although individuals with a history of NSSI evaluate their ability to manage negative emotions as significantly worse than individuals with no history of self-injury, this may not reflect their actual emotion regulatory processes.
Highlights
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate damaging of body tissue without the intent to die and for purposes not socially sanctioned (International Society for the Study of Self-Injury, 2007; Nixon and Heath, 2009)
One of the most commonly endorsed motivations for engaging in NSSI is to regulate negative emotions [e.g., see review by Taylor et al (2019)]; most of the existing literature has focused on investigating the role of negative emotions in the development and maintenance of NSSI and there is much less research investigating the role of positive emotions in NSSI engagement (e.g., Adrian et al, 2011; Jenkins and Schmitz, 2012)
Investigating the influence of positive emotions provides a new lens for NSSI research given that positive and negative emotions have been shown to be differentially associated with mental health, well-being, and health outcomes (e.g., Moskowitz et al, 2019; Pressman et al, 2019)
Summary
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate damaging of body tissue without the intent to die and for purposes not socially sanctioned (International Society for the Study of Self-Injury, 2007; Nixon and Heath, 2009). The present study was conducted to investigate differences in self-reported and actual emotion regulatory processes for both negative and positive emotions between those with and without a history of NSSI engagement. Within the field of NSSI research, recent evidence suggests that positive emotions are differentially associated with NSSI engagement depending on the degree to which negative affect is reported (e.g., Hasking et al, 2018). These findings are in line with Frederickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, which suggests that the presence of positive emotions can in and of itself be protective and functions differently from negative emotions (e.g., Fredrickson, 2013). There is a need to extend NSSI research to investigate positive emotions and to compare self-report with in vivo emotion regulatory processes
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