Prediction of self-destruction based on depression symptoms, internalized self-criticism, shame and guilt, and the differences between men and women

Introduction: psychological theories and literature have confirmed self-destructiveness patterns in human beings. chronic self-destructiveness has been defined as a tendency to behaviors that increase negative consequences and decrease potential success in the future. the aim of this study was to investigate the prediction of chronic self-destructiveness based on depression symptoms, internalized self-criticism, shame and guilt, and sex differences in this area.method: hundred and six under-graduate students (59 women and 47 men) of the university of tehran responded to the questionnaires, in convenience sampling. the chronic self-destructiveness scale (csds), personal feeling questionnaire (pfq), levels of self-criticism scale (lscs) and beck depression inventory-ii (bdi-ii) were used. data analysis was performed using pearson correlation coefficients and standard multiple regression.results: data showed that depression could predict self-destructiveness in both sex. as expected, after adding internalized self-criticism in the next step, the role of depression decreased in predicting self-destructiveness, but internalized self-destructiveness could predict self-destructiveness beyond depression, only in men. in the next step, after adding guilt and shame subscales in the equation, guilt could predict self-destructiveness, beyond other variables in women. this is while internalized self-criticism could predict self-destructiveness better than the other variables in men.conclusion: our findings affirmed that self-destructiveness could be predicted by depression, internalized self-criticism and guilt. internalized self-criticism and guilt could predict self-destructiveness, beyond other variables, in men and women respectively.