Psychology Research and Behavior Management (Jun 2022)
The Effect of Emotion Regulation on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Adolescents: The Mediating Roles of Sleep, Exercise, and Social Support
Abstract
Zhensong Lan,1,2 Kee Pau,3 Hapsah Md Yusof,3 Xuefang Huang4 1School of Public Administrations, Hechi University, Hechi, Guangxi, 546300, People’s Republic of China; 2National Child Development Research Centre, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim Perak, 35900, Malaysia; 3Department of Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Human Development, Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim Perak, 35900, Malaysia; 4College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430070, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Kee Pau, Director of Counseling Center, Bangunan Bitarasiswa, Tingkat Bawah, Kampus Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim Perak, 35900, Malaysia, Tel +60 167228023, Email [email protected]: To explore the relationship between adolescents’ emotion regulation ability and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior and the role of sleep, exercise, and social support in this relationship.Methods: A total of 2573 adolescents were investigated with the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale, the Social Support Scale for Children and Adolescents, the Ottawa Self-Injury Questionnaire, and the Self-Made Living Condition Questionnaire, and path analysis was conducted based on the structural equation model (SEM).Results: 1) There was a significant correlation between emotion regulation ability and NSSI behavior; 2) sleep and social support played a mediating role between emotion regulation ability and NSSI behavior; and 3) sleep modulated the direct effect of negative emotion regulation ability on NSSI, while exercise modulated the direct effect of positive emotion regulation ability on NSSI, which indicated that sleep and exercise could effectively alleviate NSSI behavior caused by the lack of emotion regulation in adolescents.Keywords: emotion regulation ability, non-suicidal self-injury, NSSI, structural equation model, SEM
