Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test” with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) adolescents: A pilot study

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Traditionally, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been investigated through the lens of borderline personality disorder. The present study tried to overcome such a limitation, considering new criteria suggested by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Specifically, the aim of the current study was to compare the performance of a clinical sample of adolescent inpatients who engage in self-injurious acts with healthy controls on an emotion recognition task. Results showed that adolescents with NSSI scored worse than healthy controls on the recognition of both positive and negative emotions, as well as on the entire task. Conversely, no differences between the two groups were found when they had to discriminate between neutral facial expressions. Theoretical and clinical implications were discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adrian, M., Berk, M. S., Korslund, K., Whitlock, K., Mccauley, E., & Linehan, M. (2018). Parental validation and invalidation predict adolescent self-harm. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, (4), 274–281.

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “Reading the mind in the eyes” test revised version: A study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 241–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosco, F., Capozzi, F., Colle, L., Marostica, P., & Tirassa, M. (2013). Theory of mind deficit in subjects with alcohol use disorder: An analysis of mindreading processes. Alcohol Alcoholism, 49, 299–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerutti, R., Manca, M., Presaghi, F., & Gratz, K. L. (2011). Prevalence and clinical correlates of deliberate self-harm among a community sample of Italian adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 34, 337–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cerutti, R., Presaghi, F., Manca, M., & Gratz, K. L. (2012). Deliberate self-harm behavior among Italian young adults: Correlations with clinical and nonclinical dimensions of personality. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82, 298–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deliberto, T. L., & Nock, M. K. (2008). An exploratory study of correlates, onset, and offset of non-suicidal self-injury. Archives of Suicide Research, 12, 219–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Pierro, R., Sarno, I., Gallucci, M., & Madeddu, F. (2014). Nonsuicidal self-injury as an affect-regulation strategy and the moderating role of impulsivity. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 19, 259–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrara, M., Terrinoni, A., & Williams, R. (2012). Non-suicidal self-injury (Nssi) in adolescent inpatients: Assessing personality features and attitude toward death. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 6, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fliege, H., Kocalevent, R., Walter, O. B., Beck, S., Gratz, K. L., Gutierrez, P. M., et al. (2006). Three assessment tools for deliberate self-harm and suicide behavior: Evaluation and psychopathological correlates. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 61, 113–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fonagy, P., Bateman, A., & Bateman, A. (2011). The widening scope of mentalizing: A discussion. Psychology and Psychoterapy: Theory and Research and Practice, 84, 98–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fossati, A., Somma, A., Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., & Borroni, S. (2017). On the relationships between DSM-5 dysfunctional personality traits and social cognition deficits: A study in a samole of consecutively admitted Italian psychotherapy patients. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 24, 1421–1434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frith, C. D. (2008). Social cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363, 2033–2039.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, C. M., Penn, D. L., Prinstein, M. J., Perkins, D. O., & Belger, A. (2010). Social skill and social cognition in adolescents at genetic risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 122, 179–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, T. R., & Winner, E. (2012). Enhancing empathy and theory of mind. Journal of Cognition and Development, 13, 19–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gratz, K. L. (2001). Measurement of deliberate self-harm: Preliminary data on the deliberate self-harm inventory. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 253–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilt, L. M., Nock, M. K., Lloyd-Richardson, E. E., & Prinstein, M. J. (2008). Longitudinal study of nonsuicidal self-injury among young adolescents: Rates, correlates, and preliminary test of an interpersonal model. Journal of Early Adolescence, 28, 455–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hüunefeldt, T., Laghi, F., Ortu, F., & Olivetti Belardinelli, M. (2013). The relationship between “theory of mind” and attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in Italian adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 36, 613–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • In-Albon, T., Ruf, C., & Schmid, M. (2013). Proposed diagnostic criteria for the DSM-5 of nonsuicidal self-injury in female adolescents: Diagnostic and clinical correlates. Psychiatry Journal, 7, 5–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, C. M., Muehlenkamp, J. J., Miller, A. L., & Turner, J. B. (2008). Psychiatric impairment among adolescents engaging in different types of deliberate self-harm. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 363–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T. E., Di Ribeiro, J. D., & Silva, C. (2012). Nonsuicidal self-injury, suicidal behavior, and their co-occurrence as view ed through the lens of the interpersonal theory of suicide. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 342–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jovev, M., Chanen, A., Green, M., Cotton, S., Proffitt, T., Coltheart, M., & Jackson, H. (2011). Emotional sensitivity in youth with borderline personality pathology. Psychiatry Research, 15, 234–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, J., Birmaher, B., Brent, D., Rao, U., Flynn, C., Moreci, P., Williamson, D., & Ryan, N. (1997). Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children-present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL): Initial reliability and validity data. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 980–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klonsky, E. D., May, A. M., & Glenn, C. R. (2013). The relationship between non suicidal self-injury and attempted suicide: Converging evidence from four samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 231–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laghi, F., Cotugno, A., Cecere, F., Sirolli, A., Palazzoni, D., & Bosco, F. M. (2014). An exploratory assessment of theory of mind and psychological impairment in patients with bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Psychology, 105, 509–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laghi, F., Terrinoni, A., Cerutti, R., Fantini, F., Galosi, S., Ferrara, M., & Bosco, F. M. (2016a). Theory of mind in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) adolescents. Consciousness and Cognition, 43, 38–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laghi, F., Federico, F., Lonigro, A., Levanto, S., Ferraro, M., Baumgartner, E., & Baiocco, R. (2016b). Peer and tecacher-selected peer buddies for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: The role of social, emotional, and mentalizing abilities. Journal of Psychology, 150, 469–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muehlenkamp, J. J. (2005). Self-injurious behavior as a separate clinical syndrome. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 324–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muehlenkamp, J.J., & Gutierrez, P. M. (2004). An investigation of differences between self-injurious behavior and suicide attempts in a sample of adolescents. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 34, 12–23.

  • Nock, M. K., Joiner, T. E., Gordon, K. H., Lloyd-Richardson, E., & Prinstein, M. J. (2006). Non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents: Diagnostic correlates and relation to suicide attempts. Psychiatry Research, 144, 65–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quintana, D. S., Guastella, A. J., Outhred, T., Hickie, I. B., & Kemp, A. H. (2012). Heart variability is associated with emotion recognition: Direct evidence for a relationship between the autonomic nervous system and social cognition. International Journal of Psychopathology, 86, 168–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherzer, P., Leveillé, E., Achim, A., Boisseau, E., & Stip, E. (2012). A study of theory of mind in paranoid schizophrenia: A theory or many theories? Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 432–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellante, M., Baron-Cohen, S., Melis, M., Marrone, M., Petretto, D. R., Masala, C., & Preti, A. (2013). The “Reading the mind in the eyes” test: Systematic review of psychometric properties and a validation study in Italy. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 18, 326–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Ceumern-Lindenstjerna, I. A., Brunner, R., Parzer, P., Frey, M., Fiedler, P., & Resch, F. (2007). Wahrnehmung und Bewertung von emotionalen Gesichtsausdrücken bei weiblichen Jugendlichen mit einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung. Zeitschrift für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie, 35, 333–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitlock, J. L., & Selekman, M. (2014). Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) across the lifespan. In M. Nock (Ed.), Oxford handbook of suicide and self-injury. Oxford Library of Psychology: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanarini, M. C., Frankenburg, F. R., Reich, D. B., Fitzmaurice, G., Weinberg, I., & Gunderson, J. G. (2008). The 10-year course of physically self-destructive acts reported by borderline patients and axis II comparison subjects. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 117, 177–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zetterqvist, M. (2017). Nonsuicidal self-injury in adolescents: Characterization of the disorder and the issue of distress and impairment. Suicide and Life-threatening Behavior, 47, 321–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zetterqvist, M., Lundh, L. G., Dahlström, O., & Svedin, C. G. (2013). Prevalence and function of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a community sample of adolescents, using suggested DSM-5 criteria for a potential NSSI disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 759–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Social and Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza, University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Fiorenzo Laghi & Annarita Pongetti

  2. Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza, University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Rita Cerutti & Fiorella Fantini

  3. Department of Pediatrics and Child and Adolescent Neurology and Psychiatry Sapienza, University of Rome, Via dei Sabelli 108, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Arianna Terrinoni & Mauro Ferrara

  4. Department of Human Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, Università Europea di Roma, Via degli Aldobrandeschi, 190, 00163, Rome, Italy

    Antonia Lonigro

Authors
  1. Fiorenzo Laghi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rita Cerutti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arianna Terrinoni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Antonia Lonigro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Annarita Pongetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Mauro Ferrara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Fiorella Fantini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fiorenzo Laghi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interests

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants and their parents included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Laghi, F., Cerutti, R., Terrinoni, A. et al. Evaluation of the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test” with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) adolescents: A pilot study. Curr Psychol 40, 5471–5477 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00505-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00505-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation