Abstract:
Objective To examine the mediating role of life satisfaction and the moderating role of social support in the relationship between family resilience and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents.
Methods A total of 8372 adolescents from the fourth wave (June 2022) of the Chengdu Positive Child Development (CPCD) cohort were included. Data were collected using questionnaires assessing NSSI, family resilience, life satisfaction, social support, and demographic characteristics. Chi-square tests and independent samples t-tests were used to analyze inter-group differences. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the associations among variables. Binary logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with NSSI among adolescents. Structural equation modeling was conducted using Mplus 7.0.
Results The prevalence of NSSI among the participants was 23.7%. Logistic regression analysis showed that higher family resilience (odds ratio OR = 0.932, 95% CI: 0.895-0.970), being female (OR = 0.873, 95% CI: 0.784-0.972), higher parental education level (OR = 0.816, 95% CI: 0.686-0.971), greater social support (OR = 0.801, 95% CI: 0.735-0.873), and higher life satisfaction (OR = 0.558, 95% CI: 0.532-0.587) were all significant protective factors against NSSI. Structural equation modeling further demonstrated that family resilience affected NSSI among adolescents indirectly (β = -0.031, 95% CI: -0.053 to -0.011) and indirectly through the mediating effect of life satisfaction (indirect effect: β = -0.048, 95% CI:-0.057 to -0.039). The interaction between family resilience and social support had a negative predictive effect on life satisfaction (β = -0.037, 95% CI: -0.059 to -0.014) and a positive predictive effect on NSSI (β = 0.024, 95% CI: 0.002-0.047), indicating that social support played a moderating role in the pathways from family resilience to life satisfaction and NSSI.
Conclusion Family resilience influences adolescent NSSI both directly and indirectly through the mediating role of life satisfaction and the moderating effect of social support. These findings highlight the importance of enhancing family resilience, as well as promoting adolescents’ life satisfaction and perceived social support, in the development of effective interventions to prevent NSSI.