The functions of self-injury in young adults who cut themselves: clarifying the evidence for affect-regulation.
The functions of non-suicidal self-injury were examined in 39 young adults with a history of skin-cutting and other self-injurious behaviors including banging, burning, and severe scratching. Consequences, affect-states, and reasons associated with self-injury were assessed by a structured interview. Results indicate that self-injury is associated with improvements in affective valence and decreases in affective arousal. Specifically, participants tended to feel overwhelmed, sad, and frustrated before self-injury, and relieved and calm after self-injury. Further, these affective changes predict lifetime frequency of self-injury, suggesting that they reinforce the behavior. Finally, although reasons for self-injury related to both affect-regulation (e.g., to release emotional pressure that builds up inside of me) and self-punishment (e.g., to express anger at myself) were endorsed by a majority of participants, affect-regulation reasons were overwhelmingly rated as primary and self-punishment reasons as secondary.
Klonsky
E David
ED
Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500, United States. E.David.Klonsky@stonybrook.edu
D000339:Affect; D000786:Anger; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult