Applying social cognitive theory to nonsuicidal self-injury: Interactions between expectancy beliefs

Abstract

Objective

A measure was recently developed which assesses self-efficacy to resist NSSI across differing contexts. The aim of this study was to examine how self-efficacy to resist NSSI across contexts interacts with NSSI-related outcome expectancies when differentiating NSSI history. Participant: 501 Australian college students aged 17–40 years (M = 21.21, SD = 2.36). Method: Participants completed online questionnaires. Results: Self-efficacy to resist NSSI when in contexts considered to be protective or of high risk moderated the relationships between NSSI-related outcome expectancies and recent engagement in NSSI. Participants who expected NSSI to result in communication were more likely to have recently engaged in NSSI if they held weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI in protective contexts. Expecting NSSI to result in diminished self-worth was protective against weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI. Conclusion: Results support the application of Social Cognitive Theory to NSSI and provide future avenues for exploring NSSI-specific cognitions.

Keywords:

• Context
• nonsuicidal self-injury
• outcome expectancies
• self-efficacy
• social cognitive theory

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Australia and received approval from the Research Ethics Committee at Curtin University.

Additional information

Funding

JD is supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.