ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1631266
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms and Non-Pharmacological Interventions for Adolescent Mood DisordersView all 4 articles
Family resilience, emotional intelligence, and non-suicidal self-injury among Chinese adolescents with mental disorders: a latent variable mediation analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Nursing, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
- 2Child and Adolescent Psychology Department, Hunan Provincial Brain Hospital, Changsha, China
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Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common malpractice in adolescents with mental disorders. It may lead to suicide or other adverse consequences, thus affecting the treatment and rehabilitation of patients. We herein analyzed the relationship among family resilience, emotional intelligence, and NSSI behavior in adolescents with mental disorders. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 294 adolescent patients with mental disorders (91 boys and 203 girls) from the counselling center and inpatient adolescents of the Paediatric Psychology Department of Hunan Brain Hospital. Data were collected using the Family Resilience Scale, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Assessment Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the association between family resilience and NSSI in these adolescents. Results: Herein, 229/294 patients reported at least one episode of NSSI behavior in the last one year. They had low levels of family resilience and emotional intelligence. Family resilience and emotional intelligence were significantly negatively correlated with NSSI behavior; consequently, they showed a significant association with NSSI behavior. The SEM analysis showed that emotional intelligence plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between family resilience and NSSI. Conclusion: Family resilience and emotional intelligence are important protective factors for NSSI behaviors in adolescent patients with mental disorders. Future research can focus on stimulating the ability of adolescent patients with mental disorders to combine the strengths of their own and their family’s resources, find the right direction for their individual development, and promote their treatment and recovery.
Keywords: Non-suicidal self-injury, family resilience, Emotional Intelligence, Adolescentmental disorders, Latent variable
Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Tan, Ge, Li, Zou and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaojian Jiang, yzjxj726@163.com
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