Investigating the Path From Non-Suicidal Self-Injury to Suicidal Ideation: The Moderating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Objective: Non suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation are reliable antecedent events of suicide risk. To date, it remains unclear what implicit emotion regulation mechanisms are involved in these aspects and what is their role in the link between NSSI and suicidal ideation. The purpose of our study is to present evidence on the association between NSSI, suicidal ideation, and dysregulation of positive and negative emotions with the aim of providing empirical data useful in explaining the role of emotional dysregulation in the development of self-injurious and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, to contribute to the development of accurate and focused prevention and treatment directions. Methods: The study was conducted on 1,202 individuals from a community sample (34.3% male; mean age of 30.48 [standard deviation= 13.32] years). Demographic information, including medical history, was collected in a form. We conducted analyses assessing suicidal ideation using the Beck Suicide Ideation Scale, NSSI using the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory, and difficulties in negative emotion regulation and positive emotion regulation using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Positive. Results: Checking for age and gender, we found that both suicidal ideation and dysregulation of only negative emotions can predict NSSI. In addition, the results demonstrated that emotion dysregulation partially mediates the relationship between suicidal ideation and NSSI. Conclusion: NSSI is traditionally distinguished from suicidal intent, even so it might be interesting to explore the intentional aspect in patients who present with persistent and severe self-injurious behaviors.