Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is a global public health concern, characterized by deliberate self-harm without suicidal intent. The Experiential Avoidance Model posits that individuals engage in behaviors such as NSSI to escape aversive internal experiences (e.g., anxiety, distress), gaining temporary emotional relief at the cost of long-term emotional dysregulation. The Ego Depletion Theory further suggests that chronic anxiety and emotional control demands consume limited self-regulatory resources, weakening emotion regulation capacity and making NSSI a maladaptive yet low-cost alternative for affect regulation.
Based on these theoretical frameworks, the present study employed a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) to disentangle within-person dynamics from between-person stability in the longitudinal associations among anxiety, emotion regulation, and NSSI. Data were drawn from 11,115 students (54.1% female; Mage = 11.03 ± 0.60) in grades 5-6 from Beijing, surveyed across four annual waves (2021-2024).
Results revealed that: (1) anxiety and NSSI formed a reciprocal vicious cycle—higher anxiety predicted increased subsequent NSSI, and elevated NSSI further intensified later anxiety; (2) both anxiety and NSSI consistently undermined emotion regulation, reflecting cumulative depletion of regulatory resources; and (3) emotion regulation exhibited a delayed protective effect, negatively predicting NSSI from the second year onward.
These findings reveal a self-reinforcing mechanism in adolescent NSSI, driven by rising anxiety and declining emotion regulation. Integrating the experiential avoidance and ego depletion frameworks, this study highlights the importance of strengthening emotion regulation skills during high-anxiety periods to disrupt the maintenance of self-injurious behavior.