Exploring the longitudinal associations among fear of negative evaluation, self-disgust, and self-injury in Chinese adolescents: Disentangling between- and within-person associations.

Abstract

Introduction: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation (SI) are widespread mental health concerns among adolescents. As fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and self-disgust are also common psychological phenomena among adolescents, existing research suggests that there may be reciprocal predictive relationships between FNE and NSSI/SI with self-disgust playing a mediating role. This study aimed to investigate the reciprocal relationships between FNE and NSSI, as well as FNE and SI, and the mediating role of self-disgust.

Method: Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were employed. A total of 515 Chinese secondary school students (50.7% boys; baseline M_age = 12.31 years, SD = 0.81) completed self-report questionnaires regarding FNE, self-disgust, NSSI, and SI. The assessment was conducted in four waves, 6 months apart.

Results: The results were as follows: (1) There were bidirectional relations between FNE and NSSI through self-disgust. (2) There was a unidirectional association from FNE to SI via self-disgust.

Conclusion: These findings have expanded the theoretical understanding of adolescent NSSI and SI, and highlighted the importance of offering personalized psychological counseling and therapy services at the intrapersonal level for adolescents.