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.