Association Between Betrayal Trauma and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Adolescent Offenders: Shame and Emotion Dysregulation as Mediating Factors

abstract

hildhood trauma has been identified as a strong risk factor for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI; Gratz, 2006). Existing literature suggests that the degree of betrayal involved in a traumatic experience may have an impact on NSSI behaviors (Gómez & Freyd, 2013), but little work has examined the potential relationship between betrayal trauma and NSSI. This cross-sectional study examined the association between history of high betrayal trauma and engagement in NSSI, as well as explored shame and emotion dysregulation as potential mediators of the association. A total of 100 adolescent offenders in Singapore were recruited from a probation setting, and administered measures assessing betrayal trauma, shame, emotion dysregulation, and NSSI behaviors. A history of high betrayal trauma was significantly associated with both lifetime and past-year engagement in NSSI. Mediation analysis using bootstrap resampling indicated that both shame and emotion dysregulation individually mediated the association between high betrayal trauma and frequency of past-year NSSI. In a multiple mediation analysis, emotion dysregulation emerged as a significant mediator of the association, whereas shame did not. The findings highlight the importance of betrayal trauma as a correlate of NSSI, and point to emotion dysregulation as a key mechanism underlying the relationship between betrayal trauma and NSSI.

KEYWORDS:

• Betrayal trauma
• non-suicidal self-injury
• shame
• emotion dysregulation
• adolescents

The authors would like to acknowledge Probation Service of Ministry of Social and Family Development for their support and assistance in participant recruitment in this study. We would also like to thank the following individuals who provided assistance in the implementation or analysis of this study: Shermayne Soh, Tan Xiao Xian, Clara Teo, Kala Ruby, Andrew Procter, and Andrea Teo.

Notes

1 A probation order by the Singapore State Courts places the offender under the supervision of a probation officer from MSF for a period of 6–36 months. During this period, instead of being sent to correctional institutions, adolescent offenders are placed in a community-based rehabilitation programme, where they can continue with most of their day-to-day activities such as school and work, but are required to comply with certain conditions as stipulated by the Courts. Whereas most adolescent probationers reside at home, some may be additionally ordered by the Youth Court to reside in a hostel, which provides structure and an environment conducive for their rehabilitation.

2 In Singapore, more than three quarters of the adolescent offenders commit offenses that are nonsexual and nonviolent in nature (e.g., theft; Chu et al., 2015). The frequency with which these offenses occur did not vary by gender.