Nonsuicidal Self-Injury, Stress, and Self-Differentiation

The authors surveyed 458 young adults and examined the relationships among stress, self-differentiation, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). They conducted multiple regression analyses to explore whether characteristics of self-differentiation (i.e., emotional reactivity and “I position”) were related to NSSI after controlling for the effects of stress, as well as whether emotional reactivity and I position served as mediators in the stress–NSSI relationship. I position and emotional reactivity both contributed statistically significant variance to NSSI after accounting for stress. Moreover, both I position and emotional reactivity served as partial mediators in the stress–NSSI relationship. The authors discuss counseling and research implications.