Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury

People who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) consistently report greater emotion reactivity and dysregulation than their peers. However, evidence that these self-reports reflect an amplified emotional response under controlled conditions is limited. Here we test the effects of both subtle an...

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Main Authors: Robinson, Kealagh, Boyes, Mark, Wilson, M.S., Grimshaw, G.M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93186
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author Robinson, Kealagh
Boyes, Mark
Wilson, M.S.
Grimshaw, G.M.
author_facet Robinson, Kealagh
Boyes, Mark
Wilson, M.S.
Grimshaw, G.M.
author_sort Robinson, Kealagh
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description People who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) consistently report greater emotion reactivity and dysregulation than their peers. However, evidence that these self-reports reflect an amplified emotional response under controlled conditions is limited. Here we test the effects of both subtle and overt social exclusion, to determine whether self-reported emotion dysregulation reflects responses to real-time emotional challenge for people who self-injure. We recruited 100 young women with past-year NSSI and 100 without NSSI to an online experiment. Participants took part in a baseline social inclusion ball-tossing game, followed by either an overt or subtle social exclusion ball-tossing game, while we measured negative mood and belongingness. Despite reporting greater emotion reactivity (d = 1.40) and dysregulation (d = 1.63) than controls, women with past-year NSSI showed no differences in negative mood or belongingness ratings in response to either overt or subtle social exclusion. Within the NSSI group, exploratory analyses found greater endorsement of intrapersonal functions predicted greater negative mood following social exclusion (β = 0.19). Given that amplified emotional responding is central to prominent theoretical models of NSSI, findings highlight the need to better understand the divergence in findings between self-reported emotion dysregulation and real-time emotional responding among people who self-injure.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-931862023-10-06T05:58:22Z Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury Robinson, Kealagh Boyes, Mark Wilson, M.S. Grimshaw, G.M. emotion dysregulation non-suicidal self-injury self-harm social rejection People who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) consistently report greater emotion reactivity and dysregulation than their peers. However, evidence that these self-reports reflect an amplified emotional response under controlled conditions is limited. Here we test the effects of both subtle and overt social exclusion, to determine whether self-reported emotion dysregulation reflects responses to real-time emotional challenge for people who self-injure. We recruited 100 young women with past-year NSSI and 100 without NSSI to an online experiment. Participants took part in a baseline social inclusion ball-tossing game, followed by either an overt or subtle social exclusion ball-tossing game, while we measured negative mood and belongingness. Despite reporting greater emotion reactivity (d = 1.40) and dysregulation (d = 1.63) than controls, women with past-year NSSI showed no differences in negative mood or belongingness ratings in response to either overt or subtle social exclusion. Within the NSSI group, exploratory analyses found greater endorsement of intrapersonal functions predicted greater negative mood following social exclusion (β = 0.19). Given that amplified emotional responding is central to prominent theoretical models of NSSI, findings highlight the need to better understand the divergence in findings between self-reported emotion dysregulation and real-time emotional responding among people who self-injure. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93186 10.1098/rsos.221100 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle emotion dysregulation
non-suicidal self-injury
self-harm
social rejection
Robinson, Kealagh
Boyes, Mark
Wilson, M.S.
Grimshaw, G.M.
Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title_full Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title_fullStr Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title_full_unstemmed Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title_short Emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
title_sort emotional responding to overt and subtle social exclusion among young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury
topic emotion dysregulation
non-suicidal self-injury
self-harm
social rejection
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93186