title: The roles of social stress and decision-making in non-suicidal self-injury.
abstract: Research suggests that individuals with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) do not have difficulty generating alternatives to social problems but choose more negative solutions, suggesting a deficit in decision-making. However, studies report no significant differences in risky decision-making on a performance-based task among individuals with and without NSSI histories. A limitation of these studies is that decision-making was only assessed at baseline. As individuals with a history of NSSI typically self-injure when experiencing negative emotions, decision-making ability may become impaired specifically in the presence of these emotions. The aim of the current study was to investigate decision-making ability among individuals with and without NSSI histories both at baseline and following a distressing social exclusion task. We compared individuals with (n=48) and without (n=72) NSSI histories on the Iowa Gambling Task, a behavioral measure of risky decision-making, before and after exclusion or inclusion on the Cyberball task. Results indicated no significant group differences in performance regardless of condition. When participants were grouped by racial/ethnic minority status, results indicated that non-Hispanic White individuals with a history of NSSI exhibited deterioration in risky decision-making ability following social exclusion. Potential explanations for these findings and clinical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Box G-BH, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Butler Hospital, Psychosocial Research Program, 345 Blackstone Boulevard, Providence, RI 02906, USA. Electronic address: heather_schatten@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Heather T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Schatten
authors.affiliation: Fordham University, Department of Psychology, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Andover
authors.affiliation: Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Box G-BH, Providence, RI 02912, USA; Butler Hospital, Psychosocial Research Program, 345 Blackstone Boulevard, Providence, RI 02906, USA.
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Armey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000067290:Behavior Rating Scale; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Distress; Exclusion; Problem-solving; Self-harm; Self-injury