Nonsuicidal self-injury as an affect-regulation strategy and the moderating role of impulsivity.

BACKGROUND: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is used to cope with negative affect states. We investigated the association between impulsivity and this affect-regulation process. METHOD: Affect states associated with NSSI and impulsivity traits were evaluated in 30 Italian adolescent self-injurers (63.3% female, mean age = 16.63, SD = 0.56). RESULTS: Nonsuicidal self-injury was associated with decreases in affective arousal, but impulsivity moderated other affective changes. High impulsivity was associated with increases in negative high-arousal affects after NSSI, whereas low impulsivity was associated with increases in positive affects after NSSI. CONCLUSION: Impulsivity traits influenced the success or failure of the NSSI affect-regulation process.

Adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury: the effects of personality traits, family relationships and maltreatment on the presence and severity of behaviours.

Personality traits, family environment and maltreatment episodes are often associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, research on these associations has shown mixed results. The aim of the present study was to clarify the effects of these factors on the presence and the severity of NSSI among a sample of Italian students who attended secondary schools (N = 267, mean age = 17.03 SD = 0.866). The results showed that personality traits, family environment and maltreatment differently predicted the presence and the severity of NSSI. Self-injurers were more impulsive and aggressive than non-self-injurers and reported poorer relationship quality with their mothers and more sexual and physical abuse episodes than non-self-injurers. Conversely, the frequency of NSSI behaviours was predicted by the presence of less impulsiveness, more anxiety and aggressiveness, poorer relationship quality with both parents and a lower degree of identification with the father. Finally, more frequent self-injurers also reported more sexual abuses and neglect episodes than less frequent self-injurers.

Effectiveness of a university counseling intervention based on a psychodynamic approach.

The study examined the effectiveness of a brief psychodynamic counseling intervention on psychological distress and general life satisfaction in a sample of 124 students by comparing pre- and posttreatment data. The authors also tested the moderating role of pretreatment attachment styles. Results showed that most participants (57%) can be classified as a nonclinical population, whereas only a minority of participants belong to a clinical population (17%) and a subclinical population (26%) according to the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R). Psychodynamic counseling intervention was shown to be associated with a decrease in the Global Severity Index and the anxiety and depression subscales of the SCL-90-R. Clinical effectiveness was greater for participants belonging to the clinical group. General life satisfaction increased significantly for all students. The authors found no moderation effect of attachment styles. Brief psychodynamic counseling intervention was associated with a reduction of psychological distress and an increase in life satisfaction.

Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the SCL-90-R: a study on a large community sample.

We present the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Italian version of the SCL-90-R based on a large sample of the Italian population. The sample (N=3631) included high-school and university students and adults from the community (age range=13-70 yrs; 39.2% males). Principal component analysis (PCA) supported by parallel analysis, yielded eight components, partially overlapping those in the original version; no evidence of Psychoticism and Paranoid Ideation as separate subscales emerged. Twenty-one items were consecutively deleted, leading to a 69-item version of the scale. Internal coherence was good for all subscales (α values between 0.70 and 0.96). However, the eight-factor solution did not prove consistent when analyses were replicated after dividing the sample in subgroups according to gender and age. A second-order PCA yielded a single factor, supporting the adoption of the GSI as an index of general distress. A 69-item brief version of the scale has been empirically derived in this study, and can possibly be adopted as a screening measure for general distress in Italian adults and adolescents; however, caution should be exercised when interpreting the clinical profile due to the instability of factor structure.