Abstract
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is prevalent among university students, yet risk models for NSSI are rarely contextualized to the experiences of university students. The current study explored a risk model for NSSI among university students, with a focus on parent-child relational risk factors and intrapersonal vulnerabilities likely to be heightened by the achievement-focused context of the university years. A sample of 2,579 students (75.2% female) reported on experiences relating to perceived mother and father pressure, emotion dysregulation, academic coping, perfectionism (self-oriented, socially-prescribed), and past-year NSSI. Analyses involved structural equation modeling using a combined linear and zero-inflated negative binomial regression approach. Structural equation models revealed that higher perceived mother and father pressure were associated with greater past-year NSSI likelihood amongst university students. Perceived mother and father pressure were also positively associated with four intrapersonal markers of risk (self-oriented perfectionism, socially-prescribed perfectionism, academic disengagement coping, emotion dysregulation). Among these, only emotion dysregulation was linked with higher NSSI likelihood and frequency. In contrast, students higher in self-oriented perfectionism appeared less likely to engage in NSSI. Gender differences were also examined as an exploratory goal. Findings provide further insights into patterns of NSSI vulnerability among university students.
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The data in the current study are not publicly available because the participant consent form did not include data sharing consent. Raw data and/or analyses (outputs) are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Notes
A one-way ANOVA indicated no differences between participants who completed the survey in 2016 (n = 585), in 2017 (n = 1037), or in 2018 (n = 955) on past-year NSSI engagement, F(2, 2,574) = 1.397, p = .248.
Please note that a zero-inflated poisson regression approach was also explored (BIC = 161214.26; AIC = 160640.46), but provided a worse fit to the data than the ZINB regression approach (BIC = 161205.99; AIC = 160626.33).
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This work was partially supported by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (2017-20) and an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2020-21) awarded to C. Guérin-Marion, as well as postdoctoral funding from the Fonds de Recherche Québécois – Société et Culture (FRQ-SC) awarded to A. Gareau.
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C. Guérin-Marion conceptualized the research questions, performed statistical analyses, and drafted the complete manuscript. J-F. Bureau provided oversight on aforementioned steps, led data collection for the larger survey design and assisted with revising the manuscript for publication. A. Gareau provided statistical consultation support with the data analyses and assisted with revising the manuscript. M-F. Lafontaine and P. Gaudreau contributed to the larger study design and assisted with revising the manuscript.
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Guérin-Marion, C., Bureau, JF., Gareau, A. et al. Parental pressure and intrapersonal risk factors in relation to non-suicidal self-injury outcomes in university students. Curr Psychol 42, 31944–31960 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04173-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04173-w