The Roles of Emotion Regulation Self-Efficacy and Emotional Avoidance in Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors

Suicide and non-suicidal self-injury among Chinese adolescents: a longitudinal study based on the social ecological perspective

OBJECTIVE

To explore the impact of social ecological risk factors (SERFs) from seven dimensions of individual, family, school, community, policy, culture, and chronosystem on suicide-related behavior (SRB) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents.

METHODS

A longitudinal study was conducted in China. A total of 2114 adolescents (aged 15.25 ± 1.99 years, 48.5 % males) completed questionnaire at baseline and follow-up. Restricted Cubic Spline and logistic regression was performed to identify the association of SERFs with suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal plan (SP), suicidal attempt (SA) and NSSI. Back-propagation artificial neural network was used to test the importance values of SERFs for SRB and NSSI.

RESULTS

RCS showed the risk of SI, SP, SA and NSSI among adolescents increased with the increase of cumulative social ecological risk when the risk score exceeded the median (All P for overall<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed the high cumulative social ecological risk was associated with SI (OR = 3.028, 95 % CI:2.192-4.183), SP (OR = 2.672, 95 % CI:1.738-4.109), SA (OR = 6.267, 95 % CI:3.087-12.723) and NSSI (OR = 3.541, 95 % CI:2.528-4.971). The similar results were also found in the individual, family, school, community, and culture dimensions (All P < 0.05). The individual dimension of social ecological risk was the most important for predicting SRB and NSSI.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents with high culminative social ecological risk had higher SRB and NSSI risks. Schools and families could strengthen adolescents' self-efficacy and cultivate positive coping styles on the basis of exerting their own functions. Shaping optimistic personality characteristics and correct cultural values may effectively reduce the risk of SRB and NSSI among adolescents.

Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Suicide Ideation and Attempt in Adults and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

INTRODUCTION

Suicide is one of the main causes of death in adults and adolescents, so research focused on identifying risk factors for suicidal behavior is needed. In recent years, emotion regulation, mainly the presence of difficulties regulating one's own negative emotions, has been associated with negative mental health outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the available evidence on the association between emotion regulation and suicide (ideation and attempt) in both adults and adolescents.

METHOD

A systematic search of scientific articles published in English and Spanish was carried out through the databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library.

RESULTS

We identified 76 eligible studies, of which 70 reported that people with difficulties in emotion regulation reported higher levels of suicide ideation and more suicide attempts. The results were consistent in adolescents and adults, in clinical and general population samples, and when studies assessed both emotion regulation processes and strategies. However, few studies were longitudinal and most of them were with women.

CONCLUSIONS

We discuss the theoretical implications of the results, suggesting that actual psychological models might benefit from considering individual differences in ER in understanding why people engage in suicide behavior. Clinical implications are also discussed.HIGHLIGHTSDifficulties regulating one's emotions is associated with suicide behavior (SI and SA).Consistent results at all the ages and in the clinical and general population.Individual differences in ER could help researchers to understand suicide.