Non-suicidal self-injury (functions) in eating disorders: Associations with reactive and regulative temperament

• One third of all eating disorder patients engage in non-suicidal self-injury.
• ED patients with high negative affect * low effortful control engage most in NSSI.
• NSSI functions show different relationships with reactive/regulative temperament.

We investigated the association between NSSI (functions) and reactive and regulative temperament. Fifty-one female eating disorder (ED) outpatients completed the Self-Injury Questionnaire-Treatment Related and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire to assess NSSI (functions) and temperament. Overall, more than one third of all ED patients engaged in at least one type of NSSI, irrespective of ED subtype. ED patients with high levels of Negative Affectivity (reactivity) and low levels of Effortful Control (regulation) had the highest probability to engage in NSSI. Finally, different NSSI functions of the four factor model of Nock and Prinstein (2004) showed differential relationships with the reactive and regulative temperament dimensions. Clinical implications of these findings for the treatment of NSSI in ED patients will be discussed.