Discordance Between Subjective and Physiological Emotional Reactivity Among Individuals with Nonsuicidal Self-injury
Abstract
Although theorists implicate greater emotional reactivity in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), laboratory research suggests divergence between physiological and subjective indices of affect among individuals with NSSI. Potentially contributing to such a phenomenon, expressive suppression and lesser cognitive reappraisal are deficits in emotion regulation strategies associated with NSSI that may detract from concordance between subjective and physiological emotional responses. Difficulties with emotional processing and awareness, such as dissociation and alexithymia, may also contribute to emotional discordance and are implicated in NSSI. In the current study, women with and without a history of NSSI (n = 58) watched standardized negative film clips while providing continuous subjective ratings of their emotional experience. Physiological indices of arousal (skin conductance level; SCL) and negative reactivity (corrugator supercilii electromyographic activity; EMG) were simultaneously collected. We hypothesized that discordance between subjective and physiological indices would predict NSSI, and that this relationship would be moderated by self-reported deficits in reappraisal, suppression, dissociation and alexithymia. Discordance between physiological and subjective indices did not predict NSSI status, ps > .08. Neither reappraisal, suppression, dissociation, or alexithymia moderated the relationship between emotional discordance and NSSI status, OR < 1.61. Discordance between physiological and subjective indices also did not predict NSSI frequency among the self-injury group, ps > .03. Reappraisal did not significantly moderate the relationship between Subjective – SCL Discordance, β = -0.28, or Subjective – EMG Discordance, β = 0.81, and NSSI frequency. However, the large effect size led to the consideration of conditional effects, revealing that among those with lower levels of reappraisal, greater Subjective-EMG discordance may be associated with lesser NSSI frequency, t(31) = -2.38, p = .03. Neither suppression, dissociation, or alexithymia moderated the relationship between emotional discordance and NSSI frequency, β < .71. The current study’s findings were generally null or contrary to hypotheses, tentatively implicating lesser cognitive reappraisal in the degree of concordance between subjective experience and behavioral expression among individuals with more frequent NSSI. This emphasizes the importance of adopting a multidimensional approach to better understand the emotional dysfunction that underlies NSSI, and supports the emphasis among treatments for NSSI on the development of emotion regulation skills.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology
Recommended Citation
Holman, Caroline S, "Discordance Between Subjective and Physiological Emotional Reactivity Among Individuals with Nonsuicidal Self-injury" (2019). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI22618374.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI22618374
