Profiles of Emotion Deficits and Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in an Inpatient Sample.

ABSTRACT

This study examined profiles of specific emotion deficits, including poor emotion awareness, reluctance to express emotion, sadness inhibition and dysregulation, and anger inhibition and dysregulation. Self-report questionnaires assessed adolescents' emotion skills and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) engagement, frequency, severity, methods, and age of onset. Latent profile analysis yielded a three-profile solution Low Deficit (LD; n = 49), Unaware/Anger Dysregulated (UAD; n = 24), and Anger Inhibited (AI; n = 20) profiles. Adolescents in the UAD profile were more likely to engage in NSSI, displayed a higher NSSI frequency, and reported a higher number of NSSI methods when compared to adolescents in the LD profile. No links emerged for NSSI severity or age of onset.