Relationship between psychological quality and non-suicidal self-injury behavior in middle school students： path analysis of coping style

Abstract

BackgroundNon-suicidal self-injury （NSSI） behavior is highly prevalent in middle school students， which poses a significant risk to the physical and mental health of middle school students， so finding ways to improve the NSSI behavior among middle school students is of great significance for promoting their healthy growth.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between psychological quality and NSSI behavior among middle school students in western Anhui， and to examine the pathway of coping style in the above relationship.MethodsFrom November to December 2020， 22 872 middle school students in western Anhui were selected using stratified cluster random sampling method， and were subjected to complete the assessment of Adolescent Non-suicidal Self-injury Assessment Questionnaire （ANSAQ）， Adolescent's Psychological Suzhi Scale-Simplified Version （APSS-SV） and Coping Style Scale for Middle School Students （CSSMSS）. Spearman correlation analysis was adopted to examine the correlation among scores of scales and the frequency of NSSI behavior in middle school students. Amos 23.0 was utilized to test the pathway of coping style in the relationship between psychological quality and NSSI behavior.ResultsA total of 21 718 （94.95%） middle school students completed the effective questionnaire survey. NSSI behavior was detected in 7 798 middle school students （35.91%）. ANSAQ total score and CSSMSS positive coping style score of middle school students were negatively correlated with the frequency of NSSI behavior （r=-0.219， -0.179， P<0.01）. CSSMSS negative coping style score was positively correlated with the frequency of NSSI behavior （r=0.093， P<0.01）. The direct effect value of psychological quality on the frequency of NSSI behavior was -0.136， and the indirect effect value of coping style on the relationship between psychological quality and the frequency of NSSI behavior was -0.084. Among them， the effect value of positive coping style was -0.122， accounting for 55.45% of the total effect， while the effect value of negative coping style was 0.038， accounting for 17.27% of the total effect.ConclusionCoping style may mediate the relationship between psychological quality and NSSI behavior in middle school students， and the positive coping style and negative coping style play separate roles in the pathway of psychological quality on NSSI behavior.［Funded by 2020 Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Provincial Education Department （number， KJ2020B006）］

Keywords

• middle school students
• psychological quality
• non-suicidal self-injury
• coping style
• mediating effects