Deliberate Self-Harm Behavior Among Italian Young Adults: Correlations With Clinical and Nonclinical Dimensions of Personality

This study aims to explore rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH) behaviors and their psychological and psychopathological correlates within a sample of nonclinical young adults (N=365; 63% women; M age=23±4.06). Participants completed the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory and other self-report questionnaires assessing clinical (borderline personality, dissociative, and depersonalization traits) and nonclinical (body perception, behavioral inhibition and activation, cognitive emotional regulation, and the Big Five traits) dimensions of their personality. The rate of DSH in the present sample was 39%, comparable to that found in previous studies of young adults in other countries. Further, consistent with past research, DSH was found to be associated with clinical dimensions of personality pathology, including borderline personality and dissociative symptoms. Finally, results revealed an association between DSH and nonclinical dimensions of personality, including the behavioral activation dimension of fun-seeking, more negative body perception and lower body protection, the use of more nonadaptive cognitive strategies for regulating emotions, higher levels of openness to experience, and lower levels of emotional stability. This pattern of results is consistent with those found for other impulsive behaviors and impulse control disorders. © 2012 American Orthopsychiatric Association.