Citation

Christoforou R, Ferreira N. Eur. J. Trauma Dissoc. 2022; 6(3).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Masson)

DOI

10.1016/j.ejtd.2022.100259

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

PURPOSE: Studies have demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences, attachment and emotion dysregulation are significant predictors of self-harm. Developmental theories of self-harm propose that adverse childhood experiences can influence attachment, which in turn has an impact on emotion dysregulation, leading to self-harm. However, to date no study has investigated this. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the relationship between early life experiences and self-harm is serially mediated by insecure attachment and emotion dysregulation.

METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. A sample of 284 adults (77% females), 64% of whom acknowledged a mental health disorder and 49% of whom have attempted suicide before, was recruited online via specific self-harm groups on social media platforms (e.g. the subreddit r/AdultSelf-Harm on Reddit) and was asked to complete an online survey, consisting of four self-report questionnaires. Conditional process analysis was used to investigate the proposed model (using the PROCESS macro).

RESULTS: The findings supported the serial mediation model [Indirect effect = 0.004, SE = 0.002, 95% CI (0.0007, 0.0090)], even after controlling for previous suicide attempts.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the study seem to provide a fruitful start to the development of conceptual models of self-harm. Applications regarding early identification and assessment of self-harm and the development of specific interventions are discussed. © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS

Language: en

Keywords

Emotion regulation; Attachment; Self-harm; Early life experiences