scholarly journals The Association Between Masculinity and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Green ◽  
Jaclyn C. Kearns ◽  
Annie M. Ledoux ◽  
Michael E. Addis ◽  
Brian P. Marx

Several known risk factors for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), such as negative emotionality and deficits in emotion skills, are also associated with masculinity. Researchers and clinicians suggest that masculine norms around emotional control and self-reliance may make men more likely to engage in self-harm. Masculinity has also been implicated as a potential risk factor for suicide and other self-damaging behaviors. However, the association between masculinity and NSSI has yet to be explored. In the current study, a sample of 912 emerging adults from two universities in the Northeastern United States completed a web-based questionnaire assessing adherence to masculine norms, engagement in NSSI, and known risk factors for NSSI (demographics and number of self-injurers known). Stronger adherence to masculine norms predicted chronic NSSI (five or more episodes throughout the life span) above and beyond other known risk factors. Adherence to masculine norms was related to methods of NSSI. Clinical implications are discussed, including discussions of masculine norms in treatment settings. Future research should examine what specific masculine norms are most closely linked to NSSI and other self-damaging behaviors.

Crisis ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Venta ◽  
Carla Sharp

Background: Identifying risk factors for suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (SRTB) is essential among adolescents in whom SRTB remain a leading cause of death. Although many risk factors have already been identified, influential theories now suggest that the domain of interpersonal relationships may play a critical role in the emergence of SRTB. Because attachment has long been seen as the foundation of interpersonal functioning, we suggest that attachment insecurity warrants attention as a risk factor for SRTB. Aims: This study sought to explore relations between attachment organization and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm in an inpatient adolescent sample, controlling for demographic and psychopathological covariates. Method: We recruited 194 adolescents from an inpatient unit and assigned them to one of four attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, dismissing, or disorganized attachment). Interview and self-report measures were used to create four variables reflecting the presence or absence of suicidal ideation in the last year, single lifetime suicide attempt, multiple lifetime suicide attempts, and lifetime self-harm. Results: Chi-square and regression analyses did not reveal significant relations between attachment organization and SRTB, although findings did confirm previously established relations between psychopathology and SRTB, such that internalizing disorder was associated with increased self-harm, suicide ideation, and suicide attempt and externalizing disorder was associated with increased self-harm. Conclusion: The severity of this sample and methodological differences from previous studies may explain the nonsignificant findings. Nonsignificant findings may indicate that the relation between attachment organization and SRTB is moderated by other factors that should be explored in future research.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Skylan Chester ◽  
Tchiki Davis ◽  
C. Nathan DeWall

We introduce a new measure of sub-clinical self-harm tendencies, the Voodoo Doll Self-Injury Task (VDSIT). In this computer task, participants virtually stick a number of sharp pins in a doll that represents themselves. Across five community and undergraduate samples who were not recruited based on their self-harm history or risk (total N = 1,289), VDSIT scores were higher among participants with histories of actual self-injury and were positively correlated with state and trait level motivations to self-harm. VDSIT scores did not correspond to tendencies to harm others, showed sensitivity to experimental manipulations that increase self-harm tendencies, and were positively correlated with established risk factors for self-harm (e.g., depression). The VDSIT did not, on average, elicit significant distress from participants during or after the task, even among participants who had previously engaged in self-harm. Whereas the clinical utility of this measure remains unexamined, these findings provide initial support for the VDSIT’s sub-clinical validity, which can help researchers accurately, economically, and rapidly measure state and trait level self-harm tendencies using both correlational and experimental designs.


Author(s):  
Adam Bryant Miller ◽  
Maya Massing-Schaffer ◽  
Sarah Owens ◽  
Mitchell J. Prinstein

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is direct, intentional harm to one’s own body performed without the intent to die. NSSI has a marked developmental onset reaching peak prevalence in adolescence. NSSI is present in the context of multiple psychological disorders and stands alone as a separate phenomenon. Research has accumulated over the past several decades regarding the course of NSSI. While great advances have been made, there remains a distinct need for basic and applied research in the area of NSSI. This chapter reviews prevalence rates, correlates and risk factors, and leading theories of NSSI. Further, it reviews assessment techniques and provides recommendations. Then, it presents the latest evidence-based treatment recommendations and provides a case example. Finally, cutting edge research and the next frontier of research in this area are outlined.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Nina M. Lutz ◽  
Samuel R. Chamberlain ◽  
Ian M. Goodyer ◽  
Anupam Bhardwaj ◽  
Barbara J. Sahakian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is prevalent among adolescents and research is needed to clarify the mechanisms which contribute to the behavior. Here, the authors relate behavioral neurocognitive measures of impulsivity and compulsivity to repetitive and sporadic NSSI in a community sample of adolescents. Methods Computerized laboratory tasks (Affective Go/No-Go, Cambridge Gambling Task, and Probabilistic Reversal Task) were used to evaluate cognitive performance. Participants were adolescents aged 15 to 17 with (n = 50) and without (n = 190) NSSI history, sampled from the ROOTS project which recruited adolescents from secondary schools in Cambridgeshire, UK. NSSI was categorized as sporadic (1-3 instances per year) or repetitive (4 or more instances per year). Analyses were carried out in a series of linear and negative binomial regressions, controlling for age, gender, intelligence, and recent depressive symptoms. Results Adolescents with lifetime NSSI, and repetitive NSSI specifically, made significantly more perseverative errors on the Probabilistic Reversal Task and exhibited significantly lower quality of decision making on the Cambridge Gambling Task compared to no-NSSI controls. Those with sporadic NSSI did not significantly differ from no-NSSI controls on task performance. NSSI was not associated with behavioral measures of impulsivity. Conclusions Repetitive NSSI is associated with increased behavioral compulsivity and disadvantageous decision making, but not with behavioral impulsivity. Future research should continue to investigate how neurocognitive phenotypes contribute to the onset and maintenance of NSSI, and determine whether compulsivity and addictive features of NSSI are potential targets for treatment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009385482199841
Author(s):  
Melinda Reinhardt ◽  
Zsolt Horváth ◽  
Boglárka Drubina ◽  
Gyöngyi Kökönyei ◽  
Kenneth G. Rice

Significantly higher rates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) have been discovered among justice-involved juveniles. Our study aimed to discriminate homogeneous subgroups of justice-involved youth with different self-harm behavior characteristics based on latent class analysis. A total of 244 adolescents (92.6% boys; Mage = 16.99, SD = 1.28) in Hungarian juvenile detention centers completed measures of NSSI and dissociation. High-NSSI (Class 1; 9%), moderate-NSSI (Class 2; 42.6%), and low-NSSI (Class 3; 48.4%) profiles were detected relating to different forms of NSSI. Multiple comparisons showed that girls were members of Class 1 and 2 at higher rates and these subgroups showed significantly higher dissociation proportions than Class 3. Our findings pointed out diversity in self-harm profiles with different characteristics in terms of methods and severity of self-harm, experienced emotions, and other emotion regulation tendencies among justice-involved adolescents. These results suggest sophisticated treatment approaches to match variations in severity and presentation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-59
Author(s):  
Karen Guadalupe Duarte Tánori ◽  
José Ángel Vera Noriega ◽  
Daniel Fregoso Borrego

Las conductas autolesivas implican hacerse daño sin la intención de llegar al suicidio, y son comportamientos que se consideran como un problema que va en aumento entre la población adolescente; de hecho, en México los datos estadísticos estiman que 10% de los adolescentes se autolesionan; no obstante, la investigación de los factores de riesgo contextuales que propician tales conductas se ha considerado inadecuada y limitada. Objetivo: Con la finalidad de recabar las variables y teorías actuales para abordar el problema, el propósito de esta revisión fue analizar la bibliografía especializada sobre los factores contextuales relacionados a las conductas de autolesión no suicida en adolescentes. Método: Se realizó una búsqueda exhaustiva en las bases de datos Scopus, EBSCO, Dialnet Plus y SciELO, considerando los artículos publicados de enero de 2015 a abril de 2019, y empleando las palabras clave self-injury, self-harm, adolescents, teenagers, risk factors, autolesión, adolescentes y factores de riesgo, ubicadas tanto en el título como en el resumen. Se seleccionaron diez trabajos que cumplieron los criterios de inclusión en la base bibliográfica. Resultados: Entre las variables estudiadas en los distintos artículos, relacionadas con la familia se encontraron como significativas la muerte de los padres, un historial de abuso y los conflictos familiares, mientras que en las vinculadas a la escuela la variable significativa fue la victimización en el acoso escolar.


Author(s):  
Margaret S. Andover ◽  
Heather T. Schatten ◽  
Blair W. Morris

Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are at an elevated risk for engaging in self-injurious behaviors, including suicide, attempted suicide, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of research on self-injurious behaviors among individuals with BPD. Definitions and prevalence rates are provided for NSSI, suicide, and attempted suicide. Clinical correlates of and risk factors for the behaviors, as well as associations between specific BPD criteria and self-injurious behaviors, are discussed, and a brief overview of treatments focused on reducing self-injurious behaviors among BPD patients is provided. By understanding risk factors for attempted suicide and NSSI in BPD, we can better identify patients who are at increased risk and focus treatment efforts on addressing modifiable risk factors.


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