The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation in the Relationship between Emotional Disorders and Self-Injury in Adolescents with Divorced Parents

This study was undertaken to examine the mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship between emotional disorders and self-injury in adolescents with divorced parents. This research had a correlational design. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all students with divorced parents who were studying in junior and senior high schools in Rasht in 2019-2020 school year. The statistical sample consisted of 200 students who were selected by convenience sampling method. The research instruments included Self-Harm Inventory (Sansone et al., 1998), the Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory  (1920), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003). The collected data were analyzed via structural equation modeling with SPSS-21 and AMOS-24 software. Results showed that there was a positive, significant relationship between emotional disorders and self-injury in adolescents with divorced parents (p<0.05). Moreover, emotion regulation (reappraisal and suppression of emotions) had a mediating role in the relationship between emotional disorders and self-injury. More specifically, suppression of emotions played a significant, positive role in the link between emotional disorders and self-harm, whereas reappraisal played a significant, negative role in the relationship between emotional disorders and self-harm. Fit indices indicated that the proposed model was a good-fitting one.