Volume 25, Issue 115, September 2021

Predicting self-harming behaviors based on attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas among adolescents; mediating roles of trauma, emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and self-criticism

Hesam Shahmoradi¹, Abbas Masjedi-Arani^2♦, Maryam Bakhtiari³, Imaneh Abasi⁴

¹PhD Student of Clinical Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
²Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
³Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
⁴Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Self-harming behavior is a major clinical issue in adolescence. In this study, we aimed to clarify the pathway from attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas to self-harming behavior through the mediating roles of trauma, emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and self-criticism among adolescents in Iran. Methods: A sample of 558 (263 girls and 295 boys) middle school-aged adolescents (aged 13–17) were recruited. Participants had at least one self-harming behavior in their clinical records. Self-report questionnaires in this research were completed online. Results: The Sobel Test revealed that attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas had significant indirect effects on self-harming behavior. More specifically, attachment styles had indirect effect on self-harming behavior with mediating roles of trauma, emotion dysregulation, and self-criticism except impulsivity. Early maladaptive schemas had an indirect effect on self-harming behavior with mediating roles of emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and self-criticism except trauma. Conclusions: Our findings, which were based on the assessment of the model, provided new insight to the relationship of attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas with self-harming behavior.

Keywords: Self-harming behavior, Attachment styles, early maladaptive schemas, Trauma, Emotion dysregulation, Impulsivity, Self-criticism

Medical Science, 2021, 25(115), 2181-2190

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