To Örebro University

Introduction: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is a health concern. Little is known about the patterns of methods adolescents use, in terms of how many and how often different methods are used.

Methods: We used three annual waves of data from 630 Swedish adolescents (T1: age 12-18 years; 56% girls), who reported NSSI use at least once. Latent profile analysis was used to examine profile differences, with supplementary analyses focused on differences and change predicted by gender, internalizing, emotion dysregulation, interpersonal stressors, and severity of NSSI.

Results: Three profiles consistently emerged over time: one very low in NSSI, another with higher frequencies of cutting/scraping skin, and one reporting multiple methods of NSSI, ranging from moderate (T1) to high (T3) frequency. Profile subgroups differed: low subgroups consisted of the fewest girls and reported the lowest levels of intra- and interpersonal issues. Additionally, subgroups differed in severity of NSSI, suggesting damage to the skin may not be the only reason medical attention is needed. Significant change in subgroup membership was also observed.

Conclusions: Although most adolescents engaged in NSSI at very low rates, many used multiple forms, differing in both frequency and versatility. Few differences were found between subgroups characterized by higher frequencies, suggesting that it might be possible to identify adolescents most in need of treatment by attending to the methods most frequently used. Results also suggested that measuring the severity of each method may yield more accurate information than a priori groupings.

As risk for both non-suicidal self-injury and depression increases at adolescence, it is critically important to clarify equivocal findings regarding the temporal ordering of these health concerns. Addressing the limitations of past research, which included the use of only two data waves and analyses that do not account for within-person variance, the aim in this study was to examine the temporal ordering of non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms during adolescence. Two independent samples were examined. One sample (first used by Marshall et al., 2013) consisted of 799 Swedish adolescents (11 to 15 years, Mage = 13.18, SD = 0.74; 51% girls). The second sample was a later cohort of adolescents from the same area (N = 2760; aged 12 to 18 years, Mage = 13.75, SD = 0.74; 49% girls). Analyses were two-part cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) to account for the semi-continuous distribution of NSSI and to determine if traditional lagged models were adequate for estimating within-person temporal ties. The results suggest that traditional CLPMs had inadequate fits to data. RI-CLPMs showed significant within-person, transactional associations between depressive symptoms and NSSI. Specifically, NSSI at a mean age around 13 years was associated with increases in depressive symptoms one year later, which were in turn associated with increases in NSSI when the average age was about 15 years old. Subsequently, lags suggested the potential for maintenance of comorbid distress. These results suggest that efforts to reduce depression and NSSI during adolescence need to begin in early adolescence, with a focus on adaptive responses to distressing emotional experiences.

Adolescent sleep quality and quantity is commonly linked to worse emotion regulation. One maladaptive emotion regulation strategy that is on the rise is non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), which includes burning, hitting, or scratching one's own body tissue without suicidal intent. The aim of this study was to explore the frequency of NSSI among different longitudinal trajectories of insomnia symptoms and short sleep duration to identify at-risk adolescents. We used questionnaire data collected annually (3 time points over 2 years) from a sample of Swedish adolescents (N = 1,294; Mage = 13.2 [range: 12-15 years], SD = 0.4; 46.8% girls). Adolescents answered questions about their sleep duration, symptoms of insomnia, NSSI, depressive symptoms, and demographics. Adolescents who reported persistent or increasing sleep problems over time also reported more NSSI. A notable pattern was that adolescents whose insomnia symptoms were high and increasing reported the highest frequency of NSSI, also compared to adolescents who started at the same high level of insomnia symptoms but improved over time. Therefore, measuring NSSI may help identify a risk-group for persistent sleep problems and self-injury. Because sleep disturbances, especially insomnia, and NSSI go hand-in-hand for most adolescents, sleep interventions would benefit the treatment and prevention of self-injury.

This chapter profiles a description of the paths that shaped research on parental monitoring and adolescents’ information management. As these areas developed, accounts of the interplay between parents’ attempts to regulate their adolescents’ behavior and adolescents’ responses grew in breadth and in detail. In this chapter, we introduce readers to the constructs and frameworks that have come to represent monitoring and information management research, including related topics that have been probed in diverse attempts to better understand parenting and adolescents’ behaviors. We track developments in the field from the initial challenges to research on parental monitoring, to the rapid shift emphasizing adolescents’ information management and challenging assumptions about monitoring specifically and parental control more generally. Finally, we not how these broad examinations of monitoring and parental control have led to theory development and offer suggestions for continuing these efforts.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been tied to several forms of emotional and behavioral dysregulation in adolescence, with less attention paid to regulation of anger. Most assume that anger dysregulation leads to engagement in NSSI, rather than the reverse. However, it is plausible that NSSI compromises adolescents’ abilities to regulate their emotions, including anger, because it may reduce the development of alternative regulatory strategies and intensify negative emotions by reducing tolerance of distress. Using three waves of data from a sample of adolescents in 17 Swedish schools (n = 1,304 M age = 13.68, SD age = .67; 89% of Swedish origin; 58% girls), we examined the directionality of ties between NSSI and three forms of anger dysregulation: dysregulated expressions of anger, anger suppression, and low anger reflection. We also looked for differences in magnitude of paths and gender differences. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models showed that NSSI predicted changes in all forms of anger dysregulation but found no support for the opposite direction. Gender differences were not evident. Results challenge directionality assumptions and support suggestions that adolescents’ anger regulation degrades when they self-injure.

Conflicts are frequently incorporated into research on parent-adolescent relationships. However, empirical research has inconsistently used "parent-adolescent conflict" as a broad and often singular term rather than processes involving a range of constructs. To understand the balance of attention to the constructs involved in parent-adolescent conflicts, we conducted a systematic review of measures that were reported in peer-reviewed journal articles between January 1, 1970 and January 31, 2021, across several disciplines. The initial search identified 17,036 references; after removing duplicates, excluding studies based on stated criteria, and adding 22 articles from reference lists, 467 articles were retained, and 568 measures were extracted from articles. Two types of content analysis (directed and conventional) were used to organize measures into categories. Findings reveal that conflict frequency, intensity, and quality of interactions are most often used while initiation and duration tend to be overlooked. Uneven coverage may generate biases in understanding parent-adolescent conflict processes.

Adolescents' co-ruminating with friends has been tied to trade-offs: having higher quality friendships but experiencing more depressive symptoms. To determine if individual youth experience these trade-offs, we applied a person-centered approach to Swedish adolescents' self-reports of co-rumination with friends, depressive symptoms, and friend support (n = 2767, aged 12-16, 52% girls; 88% Swedish). We found four latent profiles: Two high in co-rumination and two low. One high co-rumination profile exhibited the proposed trade-offs; the other reported high friendship support and fewer depressive symptoms. Comparisons indicated that the trade-offs profile were primarily girls and exhibited comparatively more difficulties with stress regulation, conceptions of their parents and themselves, and relations with peers. Focusing on the complexity of co-rumination could reveal further nuances.

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.

Research has rarely focused on what might make adolescents less likely to engage in deliberate self-harm. Because the sports domain is an important context promoting positive adjustment, we proposed that engaging in organized sport activities could help adolescents refrain from self-harming through affecting their psychosocial well-being. Using two annual waves of longitudinal data from 998 Swedish adolescents in grades 7 and 8 (52% boys), we tested whether depressive symptoms and self-esteem mediated the link between organized sport activities and self-harm. Results showed that self-esteem, but not depressive symptoms, mediated the association between organized sport activities and lower self-harm. Our findings reinforce the idea that organized sport activities could be a viable way of promoting mental health, laying the foundation for future interventions.