Brief reportBrief report: A preliminary comparison of self-compassion between adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury thoughts and actions

Despite the public health significance of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents, little is known about the possible overlaps or differences between individuals with NSSI thoughts and those with NSSI actions. The present study compared between individuals with different NSSI status on self-compassion. With a sample of 606 Chinese adolescents (38.8% females; Mage = 13.58, SD = 1.04), we investigated differences on the six subscales of the Self-Compassion Scale (i.e., self-kindness/self-judgment, common humanity/isolation, and mindfulness/over-identification) across three groups: NSSI-action group (n = 86), NSSI-thought group (n = 98), and no-NSSI group (n = 422). Results revealed that individuals with NSSI thoughts and NSSI actions shared greater self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification than those without NSSI, but differed from each other on self-kindness and common humanity, with individuals with NSSI thoughts reporting more self-kindness and common humanity than those with NSSI actions. Further empirical investigations into the influence of self-compassion on NSSI will benefit the development of interventions for adolescent NSSI.