Emotion Regulation and Self-Injury Status among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: One of the factors associated with the incident of self-injury among college students is emotion dysregulation, but many factors, namely self-criticism, daily guilt, and social factors are associated with emotion dysregulation as well. However, little is known about how the process happens and how the emotion regulation relates to other factors associated with the incident of self-injury. Purpose: This study aimed to identify the relationship between emotion regulation and self-injury status among nursing students. Methods: A descriptive correlational study was conducted among 783 nursing students in a public university in Indonesia. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit the samples. The data were collected online using the Difficulties of Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI). The univariate analyses in the form of percentage and bivariate analyses with the Point Biserial test were performed for data analysis. Results: The results showed that the minimum and maximum scores of emotion regulation in nursing students were 41 and 163, respectively. The mean score and standard deviation of emotion regulation were 96.75 and 20.948, subsequently. As many as one-third (32.6%) of students committed self-injury. The Point Biserial test showed a relationship between emotion regulation and self-injury status (sig. 2-tailed = 0.000). Conclusion: There is a relationship between emotion regulation and self-injury status among nursing students. This study suggests the importance of health promotion and nursing intervention regarding emotion regulation as a prevention and treatment of self-injury among nursing students.