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Category: Project

Description: Theoretical models implicate self-criticism as a key risk factor of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI; e.g., Hooley et al., 2010; Hooley & Franklin, 2018; Nock, 2009). Consistent with these models, previous research has found that individuals who are more self-critical than other people are more likely to engage in NSSI up to one month later (Fox et al., 2018; Perkins et al., 2020). However, little is known about whether self-criticism predicts NSSI across hours in daily life among people with a history of NSSI. One study of university students with a history of NSSI found that within-person increases in self-criticism concurrently and prospectively predicted within-person increases in NSSI urges a few hours later, whereas between-person variability in self-criticism did not predict between-person differences in NSSI urges (Burke et al., 2021). However, as far as we are aware, no study has examined these associations in a clinical population. Moreover, it remains unclear whether self-criticism is a specific risk factor for NSSI or if it transdiagnostically predicts other self-damaging behaviors, such as disordered eating (DE; i.e., binge eating, purging, and restrictive eating). Using experience sampling methodology (ESM), the current study addresses these knowledge gaps in a sample of treatment-seeking adolescents and young adults who engage in NSSI. The objectives are to: (1) investigate the associations between trait and state self-criticism with NSSI urges and behavior during a 28-day ESM period; (2) clarify how state self-criticism elevates risk of NSSI behavior in daily life (i.e., does state self-criticism incrementally predict increased risk of NSSI behavior within the next two hours when controlling for the lagged effect of NSSI urge intensity, and/or does state self-criticism elevate risk of subsequent NSSI behavior indirectly via increased NSSI urge intensity?); and (3) determine if the risk pattern identified is specific to NSSI or extends to comorbid DE urges and behaviors.