Examining the relationships between emotion regulation and non-suicidal self-injury behavior in adolescents: A systematic review

Abstract

Emotion regulation processes and their effects on many variables are topics that are frequently researched in the literature today. In particular, it is stated in the literature that these processes have effects on non-suicidal self-injury behaviors that are frequently encountered in adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review studies conducted in the last 15 years to examine the relationship between emotion regulation and non-suicidal self-injury behavior in adolescents. This review was written based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis criteria, and the articles were searched in the “PubMed”, “ScienceDirect/Elsevier” and “Wiley Online Library” databases using the determined keywords between April and May 2021, and 20 articles that met the determined criteria were included in the review. Of the included studies, seven were longitudinal and thirteen were cross-sectional. In the studies, “emotion regulation, emotion dysregulation, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and rumination” were the most frequently discussed within the scope of emotion regulation. In addition, many other concepts were also examined in this context. When the results of the studies are considered in general, it was found that the use of more maladaptive emotion regulation strategies predicts non-suicidal self-injury behavior in adolescents, and other variables that may have a role in the formation of difficulties in emotion regulation, especially in adolescence, also affect the relationship between emotion regulation and self-injury behavior. The findings are significant in that they demonstrate that the difficulties and risky behaviors that occur during adolescence are very common and that separate attention should be paid to these processes in adolescents.