The Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Emotional Disorders of Soldiers with History of Self-Harm Attempts (Suicidal and Non-Suicidal)

Suicide and self-mutilation are considered as two of the most unpleasant psychological and social events in adolescents and young people. It may become an important issue in some social conditions; therefore, the present study aims to identify the role of emotion regulation strategies in emotional disorders of soldiers with the history of self-mutilation behaviors.

This is a descriptive study. The study population consisted of all soldiers who served in three military centers (Zanjan, Qazvin, and Tehran) from 2017 to 2018 (August 2017 to November 2018) and had a history of self-mutilation harming behaviors. 92 soldiers who reported at least one self-harm behaviors in the form of self-harm and drug abuse were included in a census. Data were collected using a computerized version of the Millon 3 Multivariate Clinical Trial Questionnaire and the Short Form of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire.

92 soldiers with mean age of 19.33±7.5 years, and mean length of military service of 14.50±4.9 months participated. More than 71% of them had diplomas. The results of stepwise regression showed that adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies can significantly predict the variance of depressive personality disorder (R2 = 0.21) and anxiety (R2 = 0.11) in soldiers with a history of self-mutilation behaviors.

According to the findings, it can be concluded that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies can predict emotional disorders in soldiers with a history of self-harm behaviors. Therefore, it can be effective in preventing some unpleasant actions in these people.