مطالعات اجتماعی روانشناختی زنان (Jun 2021)
A Comparative Study of Attachment Style, Psychological Toughness and Moral Perfectionism in two groups of Girls with and Without Self-Injury Behaviors
Abstract
Systematic review of related studies indicates that various factors affect the explanation of self-injury individuals and self-injury behaviors have become common. So, it is important to investigate the constructs related to self-injury behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to model a structural equation to explain non-suicidal self-injury behaviors based on moral perfectionism and traumatic experiences with the mediating role of psychological hardiness and attachment style. The design of the present study was applied and correlational research by structural equation modelling. Among undergraduate and graduate students of Tehran universities, 529 people (411 girls and 118 boys) were selected by convenience sampling method. They all completed questionnaires on self-harm, moral perfectionism, traumatic experiences, attachment style, and psychological hardiness. Pearson correlation and structural equation modelling using SPSSV19 and AMOSV20 software were used to analyze the data. The results showed that all four variables of moral perfectionism, traumatic experiences, psychological hardiness and attachment style had a direct and significant effect on self-injury behaviors. Also, the two variables of moral perfectionism and traumatic experiences have had indirect and significant effects on self-injury behaviors due to the variables of psychological hardiness and attachment style. In addition, moral perfectionism and traumatic experiences had a direct and significant effect on psychological hardiness and attachment style (p <0.01). Finally, the results of this study show that because each person's personality is affected by his family environment and also individual differences are affected by attachment style, on the other hand, psychological hardiness as a personality trait and moral perfectionism as moral virtues. Valuable causes people to resist psychological pressures, including self-injury, and as a result, can guarantee the health of body and soul. Therefore, psychologists, counsellors and other professionals can use this model to improve self-injury behaviors. Keywords Self-injury, Moral perfectionism, Traumatic experiences, Attachment styles, Psychological hardiness. Introduction Non-suicidal self-injury includes intentional self-injury behaviors without suicidal ideation (Nock, 2010). Self-injury as a strategy of emotion regulation (Bentley, Knock and Barlow, 2014) to reduce negative emotions (Klonsky, 2007) or increase positive emotions through peer bonding, demonstrates the domination of this conceptualization (Hilberon and Prenstain, 2008). Even though self-injury is highly clinically relevant, the data also suggest that attachment styles and personality variables, including psychological hardiness, and moral perfectionism are important risk factors for individuals to commit self-injury and suicide. In the following, each of these variables will be examined. Psychological hardiness is one of the important personality components in reducing the negative effects of stressful events, which consists of three main components of commitment, control and challenge (Kobasa and Madi, 1977). In other words, hardiness can be considered an important factor that protects people against self-injury behaviors (Shreus, Van Americk, Nutlares & Dwight, 2010). Attachment styles were another construct that was examined in this study. In a study conducted by Paivastegar (2013), it was found that attachment styles and feelings of loneliness were positively and significantly correlated with self-injury behaviors. The results also showed that secure attachment style and feeling of loneliness have the greatest role in predicting self-injury behaviors. Moral perfectionism has remarkable capacities in explaining human goodness and happiness. The occurrence of deficiencies in moral development may affect the level of moral reasoning provided by the individual, and can also be one of the most important causes of abnormalities in the behavior of young girls. The present study aims to make a comparative study of attachment style, hardiness and moral perfectionism in two groups of girls with and without self-injury behaviors. Method Method Sampling and Sample Population. The design of the present study was descriptive and causal-comparative. The statistical population included all girls in Tehran universities in the academic year 2020-2021. The statistical sample was selected using a random cluster sampling method with a number of 530 female students according to the Krejcie-Morgan sample size determination table. In this study, the following tools were used to collect information: Self-injury Statement Scale (NSSI), Collins and Rid Attachment Scale, Psychological Hardiness Scale - Third Edition- and moral perfectionism scale. Results The sample of the present study was 234 girls. The mean and standard deviation of the age of the group without self-injury behaviors was 18.10±2.12, the group with self-injury behaviors was 17.45±1.84 and for the whole sample was 17.45±2.01. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test was used to evaluate the differences in the scores of attachment styles, psychological hardiness and moral perfectionism in the two groups of people with and without self-injury behaviors. Before performing the test, its hypotheses were tested. The results showed that the same precondition of the covariance matrix and the equality of error variances are not established for some variables, so according to Tabachnick & Fidell (2007) when the same assumption of the covariance matrix and error variances is not established, the Pillai effect is reported instead of (Pillai effect =0.320, F=21.422 and P<0.0001). Therefore, the results of the Pillai effect indicate that there is a significant difference between the research variables in the two groups. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the scores of secure attachment (F=5.861, P=0.016), avoidant (F=12.753, P=0.0005), ambivalent (F=24.195, P=0.0005), psychological hardiness (F=75.149, P=0.0005) and moral perfectionism (F=44.392, P=0.0005) in the two groups of girls with and without self-injury behaviors at the level of P <0.05. This means that individuals without self-injury behaviors scored higher on secure attachment, psychological hardiness, and moral perfection than the group with self-injury behaviors. However, in the variables of avoidant attachment and ambivalent attachment, the group with self-injury behaviors obtained higher scores than the group without self-injury behaviors. Discussion and Conclusion This study aimed to compare the attachment style, hardiness and moral perfectionism in two groups of girls with and without self-injury behaviors. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the scores of safe attachment, avoidance, ambivalence, psychological hardiness and moral perfection in the two groups of girls with and without self-injury behaviors. This means that girls without self-injury behaviors scored higher in secure attachment, psychological injury and moral perfection than girls with self-injury behaviors. Researchers believe that hardiness people use the active problem-solving method to deal with problems, that is, the method that turns stress into a safe experience, and therefore the level of anxiety and sense of danger in hardiness people in tragic events is very low. (Rahimi et al, 2016). Attachment styles were another variable that was examined in this study. Braille et al. (2009) also consider self-injury behaviors to originate from early life experiences. For this reason, researchers have identified insecure attachment as a potentially dangerous factor for self-injury behaviors. Insecure attachment styles lead to a person's vulnerability to problems. Because when the tragic events of life disrupt one's emotions, self-injury behaviors become an effective way to calm internal conflicts that one is unable to control (Jacobsen & Gould, 2007). This is while unfavourable family background causes and increases self-injury behaviors in individuals. Therefore, when a person does not have a good family background and does not have a secure attachment to parents and family, self-injury behaviors appear in him. Another finding of this study showed that there is a significant difference in the variable of moral perfectionism between the two groups of girls with and without self-injury behaviors. According to Savari (2012), the higher the moral perfectionism, the more health-related behaviors and the lower the moral perfectionism, the less health-related behaviors. In other words, it can be said that people with high perfectionism show the manifestations of this characteristic in believing in superiority over others, doing things perfectly, avoiding any mistakes and errors. People with moral perfectionism are somewhat aware of what they need to do and can tell right from wrong, and they try their best to avoid health-related behaviors and avoid self-injury behaviors. References Abdollahi, A., & Talib, M. A. (2015). Emotional intelligence as a mediator between rumination and suicidal ideation among depressed inpatients: The moderating role of suicidal history. Psychiatry Research, 228(3), 591-597. Abdollahi, A., Abu Talib, M., Yaacob, S. N., & Ismail, Z. (2014). Hardiness as a mediator between perceived stress and happiness in nurses. 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