investigating the role of childhood trauma, emotion dysregulation, and self-criticism in predicting self-harming behaviors

Objective: self-harming behavior is a major clinical issue in adolescenc. childhood trauma,emotion dysregulation, and self-criticism are the main concerns associated with self-harmingbehavior. in this study, we investigated the relationship between childhood trauma, emotiondysregulation, and self-criticism with self-harming behaviors among adolescents in iran.methods: a sample of 558 (263 girls and 295 boys) middle school-aged adolescents (aged13–17) was recruited. participants had at least one self-harming behavior in their clinicalrecords. self-harm inventory (shi), childhood trauma questionnaire (ctq), difficultiesin emotion regulation scale (ders), and levels of self-criticism questionnaire (losc)were completed online.results: findings of step by step regression revealed a significant relationship betweenchildhood trauma, emotion dysregulation, and self-criticism with self-harming behaviors.more specifically, childhood trauma (β=0.253, t=6.42), emotion dysregulation (β=0.135,t=2.77), and self-criticism (β=0.345, t=8.67) predicted self-harming behaviors.conclusion: our findings provided a therapeutic insight to prevent suicide and other relateddestructive behaviors among adolescents.