Ying Jiefeng, Zhang Jiajing, Chen Danrui, Shen Yunhong, Zhan Shiting, Wu Nini, You Jianing
Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, & School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, PR China.
Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, PR China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2025 Feb;54(2):439-453. doi: 10.1007/s10964-024-02070-y. Epub 2024 Aug 16.
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and negative body image are both highly prevalent among adolescents, and there are theoretically proposed reciprocal associations between them. However, previous research has not differentiated between stable personal traits and time-varying state levels when examining these associations, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To address these gaps, this study investigated the longitudinal associations between negative body image, self-disgust, and NSSI among Chinese adolescents, disentangling the between- and within-person effects by employing random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs). A total of 515 Chinese adolescents (50.7% boys; baseline M = 12.34 years, SD = 0.47) participated in a four-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. The results indicated that, at the between-person level, higher levels of self-disgust were associated with more NSSI and more concerns about general appearance, facial appearance, shortness, and fatness, but were not associated with concerns about thinness. At the within-person level, general appearance concern and NSSI positively predicted each other over time through self-disgust. Concerns about facial appearance, shortness, and fatness all positively predicted self-disgust, which in turn positively predicted NSSI over time, but not vice versa. These findings highlight the stable and trait-like associations between self-disgust, NSSI, and most negative body image dimensions. Self-disgust is worth considering as a target for intervention, as it plays a mediating role in the long-term associations between negative body image and NSSI.
非自杀性自伤（NSSI）和消极身体意象在青少年中都极为普遍，理论上二者之间存在相互关联。然而，以往研究在考察这些关联时，并未区分稳定的个人特质和随时间变化的状态水平，其潜在机制仍不明确。为填补这些空白，本研究调查了中国青少年消极身体意象、自我厌恶与非自杀性自伤之间的纵向关联，通过采用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型（RI-CLPMs）来厘清个体间和个体内效应。共有515名中国青少年（男生占50.7%；基线年龄M = 12.34岁，标准差SD = 0.47）参与了一项为期四个阶段、间隔为6个月的纵向研究。结果表明，在个体间水平上，较高程度的自我厌恶与更多的非自杀性自伤以及对整体外貌、面部外观、身高和体重的更多担忧相关，但与对瘦的担忧无关。在个体内水平上，随着时间推移，对整体外貌的担忧和非自杀性自伤通过自我厌恶相互正向预测。对面部外观、身高和体重的担忧均正向预测自我厌恶，而自我厌恶反过来又随时间正向预测非自杀性自伤，但反之则不然。这些发现凸显了自我厌恶、非自杀性自伤与大多数消极身体意象维度之间稳定的、类似特质的关联。自我厌恶值得作为干预目标加以考虑，因为它在消极身体意象与非自杀性自伤的长期关联中起中介作用。
