Comparison of belief in a just world, attachment styles and self-efficacy in male adolescents with non-suicidal and normal self-injurious behavior

Self-injury is one of the problems of adolescence that leaves a lot of psychological and social damage. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare belief in a just world, attachment, and self-efficacy in male adolescents with self-injury behavior without suicide and normal behavior. The research method was causal-comparative. The statistical population of this study consisted of all male teenagers in Tabriz city in 1401-1402 who were referred to Tabriz prison reform and education centers. The sample size of the study was 90 people (45 teenagers with self-injury, and 45 teenagers without self-injury) who were selected by a non-random sampling method. Data collection tools included Stone and Douglas's 27-question belief in a just world questionnaire, Hazen and Shiver's 21-question attachment style questionnaire, and the 23-question self-efficacy questionnaire of Mauritian children and adolescents. Multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of the present study showed that there is a significant difference between belief in a just world, attachment styles and self-efficacy in adolescent boys with self-injurious behavior without suicide and normal behavior (P<0.001). So, believing in a just world, secure attachment styles, and high self-efficacy decrease the amount of self-injury without suicide in male adolescents.