Abstract
Objective: Interpersonal difficulties are salient among those
with a history of NSSI and precede NSSI urges and behaviors. Yet,
limited research has focused on identifying which aspects of
interpersonal stress may confer risk for NSSI.
Method: The current study aimed to leverage data from two
samples (combined n =206; n =114 with NSSI history) of
participant-driven interviews regarding a recent interpersonal stressor
to enhance the field’s knowledge of interpersonal difficulties in
relation to NSSI risk.
Results: Using topic modeling to extract thematic information,
analyses identified four main topics: daily difficulties; family
members; adjectives/verbal fillers; and friendship/romantic
relationships. Relationships between the topics and three predictors
(i.e., NSSI history, emotion dysregulation, sample) were examined. In
one sample, the proportion of ‘adjectives/verbal fillers’ was greater
for participants with a NSSI history and at higher levels of emotion
dysregulation. Across samples, for participants with a NSSI history,
‘adjectives/verbal fillers’ and ‘friendship/romantic partners’ increased
with levels of emotion dysregulation.
Conclusion: Findings highlight a greater use of adjectives and
verbal fillers among individuals with a history of NSSI and higher
levels of emotion dysregulation. This pattern of language may serve as
an indicator of a specific aspect of emotion regulation difficulties
that confers risk for NSSI.
Keywords: interpersonal difficulties; emotion dysregulation; text
mining; topic modeling