Does Being Ignored on WhatsApp Hurt? A Pilot Study on the Effect of a Newly Developed Ostracism Task for Adolescents.

(1) Background: Many studies have used a well-known social exclusion task, namely Cyberball, to assess the psychophysiological reactions to ostracism in laboratory settings. However, this task has been recently criticized for its lack of realism. Instant messaging communication platforms are currently central communication channels where adolescents conduct their social life. These should be considered when recreating the emotional experiences that fuel the development of negative emotions. To overcome this limitation, a new ostracism task, namely SOLO (Simulated On-Line Ostracism), recreating hostile interactions (i.e., exclusion and rejection) over WhatsApp was developed. The aim of this manuscript is to compare adolescents' self-reported negative and positive affect, as well as physiological reactivity (i.e., heat rate, HR; heart rate variability, HRV) exhibited during SOLO to Cyberball. (2) Method: A total of 35 participants (Mage = 15.16; SD = 1.48; 24 females) took part in the study. The first group (n = 23; transdiagnostic group), recruited at an inpatient and outpatient unit of a clinic for children and adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychosomatic therapy in Baden-Württemberg (Germany), reported clinical diagnoses linked with emotional dysregulation (e.g., self-injury and depression). The second group (n = 12; control group), recruited in the district of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, had no pre-existing clinical diagnoses. (3) Results: The transdiagnostic group showed higher HR (b = 4.62, p < 0.05) and lower HRV (b = 10.20, p < 0.01) in SOLO than in Cyberball. They also reported increased negative affect (interaction b = -0.5, p < 0.01) after SOLO but not after Cyberball. In the control group, no differences in either HR (p = 0.34) or HRV (p = 0.08) between tasks were found. In addition, no difference in negative affect after either task (p = 0.83) was found. (4) Conclusion: SOLO could be an ecologically valid alternative to Cyberball when assessing reactions to ostracism in adolescents with emotional dysregulation.

Trajectories of nonsuicidal self-injury during adolescence.

OBJECTIVE: Although nonsuicidal self-injury is a public health concern, there is little information on how it changes across adolescence or what contributes to stability or change. We aimed to identify trajectories of stability and change in self-injury from ages 13 to 17 years, and to identify interpersonal and intrapersonal correlates that differentiate between trajectories of stability and change. METHOD: We used five annual waves of cohort-sequential data, targeting 7th and 8th graders attending all public schools in three municipalities in central Sweden. The data were gathered via questionnaires, using a multi-item measure of non-suicidal self-injury and assessing negative experiences at home, in school, with peers, and in romantic settings, as well as intrapersonal issues (internalizing symptoms and difficulties with emotional, and behavioral regulation). The analytic sample was 3195 adolescents (51.7% boys, 48.3% girls; ages 12-16 years at T1, M = 13.61; SD = 0.66), most of whom were born in Sweden (88.6%) to at least one parent of Swedish origin (77.4%). RESULTS: Latent growth curve modeling revealed three self-injury trajectories: a stable-low, a low-increasing, and an increasing-decreasing trajectory. Adolescents in the stable-low class reported the best overall adjustment at ages 13 and 16. Comparatively, adolescents in the other two classes reported similar levels of difficulty interpersonally and intrapersonally. Where they differed, the increase-decrease class fared worse than the low-increasing class. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests the need to frame self-injury as having multiple directions of development during adolescence and develop theory that aligns with differential patterns of self-injury development.

Insomnia symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: understanding temporal relations and mechanisms.

We propose a theoretical model of insomnia symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) that posits bidirectional linkages. We hypothesised that heightened depressive symptoms and impulsivity that result from insomnia increase NSSI. We also posit that the shame associated with NSSI triggers repetitive negative thinking, in turn increasing insomnia. Using three longitudinal waves of questionnaire data collected annually from a sample of Swedish adolescents (n = 1,457; Mage  = 13.2, SD = 0.43; 52.7% boys), we assessed the mediating role of depressive symptoms, impulsivity, rumination, and worry on the link between insomnia and NSSI. After controlling for depressive symptoms, we found that insomnia was related to increases in NSSI from the second to the third time point (ß23  = 0.09, p = .01). NSSI was consistently related to increased insomnia (ß12  = 0.09, p = .01; ß23  = 0.11, p < .001). In addition, depressive symptoms (ßind  = 0.01, p = .02), but not impulsivity (ßind  = 0.01, p = .09), mediated the path from insomnia to increased NSSI. Neither worry (ßind  = 0.00, p = .59) nor rumination (ßind  = 0.00, p = .96) mediated the link between NSSI and increased insomnia. We conclude that NSSI and insomnia maintain each other over time. Thus, screening adolescents for insomnia symptoms may help identify those at risk of NSSI. Although depression seems to explain why insomnia is a risk factor for NSSI, further studies should investigate why NSSI plays a role in the maintenance of insomnia. This understanding will lay the foundation for intervention.

Adolescents Who Self-Harm: The Patterns in Their Interpersonal and Psychosocial Difficulties.

We proposed that having mutually hostile interactions with others is a strong environmental stress factor that, together with diverse psychosocial problems, characterizes adolescents who self-harm. Using cluster analysis, this study examined the naturally occurring patterns of hostility conditions and psychosocial difficulties in a normative sample of 2,029 adolescents (50% boys; Mage  = 13.89). Results showed that self-harming behavior was significantly higher among the subgroup of adolescents with mutually hostile interactions who exhibited both internalizing and externalizing problems than among adolescents with other interpersonal-psychosocial configurations. Also, this subgroup of adolescents reported high impulsivity, anger dysregulation, and low self-esteem. These findings support recent research that indicates that adolescents who self-harm also tend to expose others to hostility and display externalizing symptoms.

The severity and spread of adjustment problems of adolescents involved in mutually hostile interactions with others.

In the literature, bully-victims report a wider range of adjustment problems than "pure" bullies or victims. This may not be confined to the school context, but might be found in other settings as well. Involvement in mutually hostile interactions across everyday settings may more reflect adolescents' characteristic way of handling conflicts with others. We used data from a longitudinal study of a community sample of adolescents (N = 992). Cluster analyses for specific everyday settings and across settings yielded clusters high on both exposing others and being exposed to hostility. Adolescents in these clusters, and particularly across settings, reported a wider range of externalizing, internalizing, and academic problems, than adolescents in other cluster groups. Longitudinal analyses showed support for bidirectional relationships between mutually hostile conditions and problematic adjustment. We conclude that adolescents' mutual hostility experiences are associated with profoundly problematic adjustment.

Toward a re-interpretation of self-harm: A cross-contextual approach.

A common view is that self-harmers are individuals who are exposed to or have been exposed to stressors and hostility in everyday settings. A strand of research has also found that self-harmers expose other people to their hostility. Extending these findings, this study examined whether adolescent self-harmers are simultaneously exposed and expose others to hostility in their everyday interpersonal contexts-at home, at school, and during leisure-time. The participants were 1,482 adolescents, ranging from 13 to 16 years of age, who attended different schools in a medium-sized city in central Sweden. The results show that the adolescents involved in mutually hostile relationships in their different interpersonal contexts exhibited higher self-harm than the adolescents who were exposed to others' hostility or exposed other people to their hostility. Also, the more mutually hostile settings the adolescents were involved in, the more self-harm they reported. Overall, our findings suggest not only that self-harmers are exposed to hostility in their different interpersonal contexts, as has been typically assumed, but also that they simultaneously expose others to hostility in these contexts. This has implications for our understanding of young people who harm themselves and also for intervention. Aggr. Behav. 42:522-532, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.