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The Interplay of Chronic Interpersonal Stress and Rumination on Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth

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Abstract

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) describes deliberate self-destructive behaviors without the intention to die. Little is known about what factors contribute to NSSI especially among youth. The current study tested two conceptual models for how chronic interpersonal stress and rumination may contribute to NSSI engagement across 18 months in a community sample of youth: (1) a mediation pathway based on the Emotional Cascade Model (i.e., stress contributes to rumination and then to subsequent NSSI), and (2) a moderation model based on the cognitive vulnerability-stress framework (i.e., rumination moderates the relation between stress and NSSI). 516 youth aged 7–16 (Mage = 12.0; 56% female; 90% Non-Hispanic or Non-Latinx) reported on ongoing interpersonal stress occurring between T1-T2 (every 6 months from T1 to 12 months) via the Youth Life Stress Interview, rumination via the Children’s Response Styles Questionnaire (at T1 and 18 months later, T2), and NSSI engagement every six months from 18 to 36 months (T2-T3) via the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Interpersonal stress predicted later rumination (b = .43, p < .01), rumination forecasted later NSSI occurrence (OR = 1.06, p < .01), and mediation was supported via a significant indirect effect of interpersonal stress on NSSI through rumination (b = .03, 95% CI = .01, .07). Rumination did not significantly moderate the relation between stress and NSSI. The prospective relation between chronic interpersonal stress and NSSI engagement was partly explained by rumination, aligning with the Emotional Cascade Model’s prediction that rumination contributes to NSSI. Youth may conduct NSSI to interrupt rumination elicited by chronic interpersonal stress.

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Data Availability

The data is not available to the public as it contains confidential mental health information of participants.

Code Availability

The PROCESS Macro syntax in SPSS 24.0 is available to the public.

Notes

  1. In order to examine a moderation model that paralleled the mediation model in terms of the temporal ordering of variables, we also examined the interaction between rumination at Time 2 and chronic interpersonal stress experienced between Time 1 to Time 2 for predicting NSSI engagements occurring between Time 2 to Time 3. The main effects of chronic interpersonal stress (OR = 1.00, p = .97), rumination (OR = 1.02, p = .61), and the two-way interaction between chronic interpersonal stress and rumination (OR = 1.01, p = .22) did not have statistically significant effects on prospective NSSI engagements. Thus, the results were similar regardless of whether rumination at Time 1 or Time 2 was examined in the moderation model.

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Funding

The research reported in this article was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health to Benjamin L Hankin, R01MH077195, and to Jami F. Young, R01MH077178.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Champaign, USA

    Yuetian Li, Tina H. Schweizer & Benjamin L. Hankin

  2. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Jami F. Young

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  1. Yuetian Li
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  2. Tina H. Schweizer
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Correspondence to Yuetian Li.

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Li, Y., Schweizer, T.H., Young, J.F. et al. The Interplay of Chronic Interpersonal Stress and Rumination on Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 49, 1373–1385 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-021-00820-1

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