Features of Psychopathology in Self-Injuring Female College Students

Although research on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is accumulating, there is as yet little data on psychopathological features associated with NSSI in nonclinical samples. College students may be particularly susceptible to engaging in NSSI and NSSI may be phenomenologically and etiologically different for males and females. This archival study examined differences between college student women with (n = 34) and without (n = 32) a history of NSSI in scores on the clinical scales and subscales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Multivariate analyses revealed significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, borderline personality features, suicidality, and certain psychotic features in self-injurers. Follow-up analysis identified four symptom themes associated with NSSI across diagnostic categories: emotional distress, physiological distress, cognitive distortion, and interpersonal difficulties. This study confirms previous findings of higher levels of affective symptoms in self-injurers. Unique findings of this study included significantly higher scores for self-injurers on the PAI Thought Disorder, Psychotic Experiences, and Hypervigilance subscales. This suggests a need to expand the conceptualization of the clinical correlates of NSSI to encompass a broader array of symptomatology. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.