Historical non-suicidal self-injury and current coping strategies: The role of emotion regulation

Objective: Supporting individuals to develop adaptive coping strategies is critical to improve health and wellbeing. A history of non-suicidal self-harm (NSSI) is linked with increased risk of maladaptive coping strategies. We aimed to identify whether emotion regulation (ER) mediated the relationship between historical NSSI behaviors and coping strategy use in adults from the general population.

Method: Participants reported their lifetime frequency of NSSI then completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, maladaptive coping strategy use (behavioral disengagement, self-blame, and substance use), and adaptive coping strategy use (active coping, instrumental support use, and emotional support use). Regression analyses investigated relationships between historical NSSI and coping strategies, with mediation analysis testing for the mediating role of ER.

Results: A total of 303 individuals participated: 180 with a history of NSSI and 123 without. Results indicated that poor emotion regulation mediated the relationship between having a history of NSSI and the use of maladaptive coping strategies; however, there was no notable association between adaptive coping strategies and historical NSSI.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the necessity for ER development in people with a history of NSSI and suggest important avenues for future research including exploring the role of ER to support NSSI cessation.