The Effects of Self-Criticism and Self-Compassion on Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

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Abstract

Purpose: Symptoms of depression increase during adolescence as do nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors (NSSI). The present study aimed to investigate how self-criticism interacted with the effects of stressful life events on depressive symptoms and NSSI and whether self-compassion would buffer these negative effects. Methods: A total of 908 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.46, SD = 0.57) completed a cross-sectional survey. The main and interacted effects of stressful life events, self-criticism, self-compassion on depressive symptoms and NSSI were examined respectively. Results: The results showed that self-criticism significantly moderated the relationships between stressful events and depression and NSSI. Self-compassion could buffer the negative impacts of stressful events and self-criticism on NSSI but not on depression. High self-compassion significantly reduced the magnitude of the association between stressful life events and NSSI in adolescents with low self-criticism but not in those with high self-criticism. Conclusion: Self-criticism exacerbated the negative impacts of stressful life events on both depressive symptoms and NSSI, but self-compassion only buffered the impact of stressful life events on NSSI. Interventions designed to reduce NSSI risk of Chinese adolescents may benefit from training them to improve self-compassion abilities and to be less self-critical.

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APA

Gao, Y., Liu, X., Liu, J., & Wang, H. (2023). The Effects of Self-Criticism and Self-Compassion on Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 16, 3219–3230. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S417258

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