(PS8-41) Emotional Invalidation and Its Impact on Self-Criticism: Understanding the Link to Self-Injury and Suicidal Behavior

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the intentional harming of bodily tissue without suicidal intent (Nock, 2009). NSSI is a major risk factor of future suicide attempts (Mars et al., 2019). Child maltreatment is a risk factor for engagement in NSSI, and parental emotional invalidation specifically has been linked to an increased risk for NSSI (Liu et al., 2018; Vieira et al., 2020).  Prior research has supported the theory that self-criticism mediates the relationship between emotional abuse and NSSI (Glassman et al., 2007). It is possible that emotional invalidation leads to the development of a self-critical cognitive style, leading to increased risk for self-harm and suicide. The goal of the present study was to test whether NSSI and suicide thoughts and behaviors are related to emotional invalidation through high levels of self-criticism. We hypothesized that self-criticism would mediate the relationship between parental emotional invalidation and risk for NSSI and suicide. Participants were 285 undergraduates (60.4% female; 75.8% Caucasian; M_age = 18.89) who completed self-report measures of parental emotional invalidation (The Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale [CCNES]; Fabes, Eisenberg, & Bernzweig, 1990), self-criticism (The Self-Rating Scale [SRS]; Hooley et al., 2010), and NSSI and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (The Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview- Revised [SITBI-R]; Fox et al., 2020). Four mediation models were tested via bootstrapping using Model 4 of the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2022) using emotional invalidation as the predictor and self-criticism as the mediator. The indirect effect of emotional invalidation on suicidal ideation through self-criticism was significant, b = .41, SE = .09, 95% CI: .243, .614, as was the indirect effect of emotional invalidation on suicide planning, b = .41, SE = .10, 95% CI: .23, .63, and on suicide attempts, b = .43, SE = .11, 95% CI: .25, .69. Consistent with previous research, the indirect effect of emotional invalidation on NSSI though self-criticism was also significant, b = .25, SE = .07, 95% CI: .14, .41. These results highlight the importance of parental reactions to child emotions in the formation of cognitive styles, and that minor experiences of invalidation, not just explicit maltreatment, are associated with risk for NSSI and suicide. Essentially, emotional invalidation from a parent may confer risk for the development of self-critical thinking patterns, explaining one mechanism how emotional invalidation may be related to risk for NSSI and suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Interventions that target self-critical tendencies could help prevent the experience of emotional invalidation leading to NSSI or suicide. Future directions should investigate these relationships in longitudinal and EMA samples.