Relationship Between Motivational Value Characters and Self- Injurious Behaviors in Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation

It is very crucial to study the issues related to adolescents. One of the behaviors that have caused public concern about adolescents' health is self-injurious behavior. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between motivational value characters and self-injurious behaviors in adolescents mediated by emotional regulation.

 The present research method is descriptive and correlational. The sample consists of 200 female high school students in Rasht in the academic year 2020-2021 who participated in the study conducted by available sampling method through online calling. Data collection tools included The Self-Harm Inventory (SHI) (Sanson et al. 1998), Schwartz's Value Survey (SVS) (Schwartz, 1992), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) (Gross and John, 2003). The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using SPSS23 and Amos26 software.

The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between personal focus values and social focus values with reappraisal and a negative and significant relationship with suppression. There is a significant negative relationship between social focus values and self-injurious behaviors and a significant negative and positive relationship between reappraisal and suppression of self-injurious behaviors (P<0.001). There was no significant relationship between personal focus values and self-injurious behaviors. The results also showed that the indirect effect of motivational value characters on self-injurious behaviors through emotional regulation is significant (P<0.001).

The present study emphasizes the mediating role of emotional regulation in the relationship between motivational value characters and self-injurious behaviors. Strengthening and internalizing effective motivational value characters and emotional regulation-based interventions may be effective in preventing or treating the symptoms of self-injurious in adolescents.