Determining the Correlation between Self-Harming Behaviors and Family Functioning and Emotion Disorder in High School Adolescent Highschool Girls in 2019

There is some evidence suggesting a connection between self-harming behaviors and both family functioning and emotion dysregulation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-harming behaviors, family functioning, and emotion dysregulation among adolescent girls in high school during the year 2019.

The statistical population of this descriptive-correlational study included all twelve to nineteen-year-old self-harming female students in Tehran in the academic year 2019, from which one-hundred-fifty were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected using the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury of Klonsky & Glenn2009, Tavitian et al Family Functioning Scale1987, and the Gratz and Roemer2004 Scale Emotional Disorder Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis) in SPSS23.

The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there is a significant negative correlation between positive family emotions, family relationships, and family support with self-harming behaviors, as well as a positive and significant correlation between family conflicts and family worries with self-harming behaviors; there is a positive and significant relationship between non-acceptance of emotional responses, limited access to emotion regulation strategies during pressure, difficulty in performing targeted behaviors during pressure, lack of awareness, emotional clarity and difficulty in controlling shocks under pressure with self-harming behaviors.(P<0.05) The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the components of family conflicts, family worries, limited access to emotional regulation strategies, and the difficulty in controlling shocks under pressure explain about twenty-seven percent of the variance of adolescent girls' self-harming behaviors.(P<0.05) 

It is suggested that the ability to predict self-harm based on family performance and emotion regulation among adolescent female students be considered by healthcare workers to control and treat problems caused by self-harming behaviors promptly.