Relationships Between Cumulative Family Risk, Emotion Regulation Difficulties, and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents: A Person-Centered Analysis

The present study used a person-centered approach to examine the latent patterns of cumulative family risk and emotion regulation difficulties in adolescents and their relationships with non-suicidal self-injury. A sample of 1046 primary and secondary school students was analyzed using latent class analysis and latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of cumulative family risk and emotion regulation difficulties, respectively. The results were as follows: (1) Two latent classes of cumulative family risk were identified: a high-risk group (30.78%) and a low-risk group (69.22%). Adolescents in the high-risk group had significantly higher self-injury scores. (2) Three latent profiles of emotion regulation difficulties were identified: a low-difficulty group (56.02%), a medium-difficulty group (32.60%), and a high-difficulty group (11.38%). Adolescents in the high-difficulty group had the highest self-injury scores. (3) The logistic regression showed that adolescents in the high-risk group were more likely to belong to the high-difficulty group, followed by the medium- and low-difficulty groups. In summary, adolescents with high levels of cumulative family risk are also more likely to exhibit high levels of emotion regulation difficulties and self-injurious behavior.