The Causal Relationship between External Shame, Self-Criticism and Fear of Self-Compassion and Self- Injury in Students: The Mediating Role of Depression and Family Emotional Involvement

The purpose of this study was to investigate the casual relationship between self-injury behaviors, external shame, self-criticism, and dread of self-compassion, with depression and family emotional involvement serving as mediators. In 2019, the statistical population comprised all undergraduates enrolled at Shahid Chamran University. A sample of 258 individuals was chosen in accordance with the sampling policy in place to test the research hypotheses. To gather data, the following instruments were utilized: Gratz’s Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI), the External Shame Scale (ESS) developed by Gross et al., the Thomson and Zoroff Self-Criticism Scale (LSCS), the Fear of Self Compassion Scale (FSCS) by Gilbert et al., the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Criticism and Family Emotional Involvement Scale of Shields et al. (FEICS). The assessment of the suggested model was conducted utilizing AMOS-24 software in conjunction with structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that the final model fits the data well. Additionally, the results indicated that the direct effects of external shame, self-criticism, and dread of self-compassion on both depression and emotional family conflict were (p<0.05). Depression and emotional conflict of the family also had direct positive effects on self-injury (p<0.05). Also, the results of Bootstrap to investigate the indirect effects showed that depression and emotional conflict in the family mediate the relationship between external shame, self-criticism and fear of self-compassion, and self-injury (p<0.05). Based on the findings that depression and family emotional involvement mediate the indirect effects of external shame, self-criticism, and fear of self-compassion on self-injury, it can be inferred that predictor variables have an indirect influence on self-injury behavior.