The moderating role of trait hope in the association between adolescent depressive symptoms and nonsuicidal self-injury

The present study examined the relationship between trait hope (including two dimensions: pathways thinking and agency thinking) and adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury and whether and how trait hope moderated the association between depressive symptoms and nonsuicidal self-injury. Participants included 1026 Chinese secondary school students (447 girls; Mage = 13.76, SD = 1.27). Adolescents reported their depressive symptoms, trait hope, and nonsuicidal self-injury experiences. Results revealed that hope negatively related to adolescent NSSI, and that hope, particularly the dimension of pathways thinking but not agency thinking, attenuated the association between depressive symptoms and nonsuicidal self-injury among female adolescents. The moderating role of trait hope in the association between depressive symptoms and NSSI is discussed.