Nock, MatthewMendes, Wendy2009-07-012008Nock, Matthew K., and Wendy B. Mendes. 2008. Physiological arousal, distress tolerance, and social problem-solving deficits among adolescent self-injurers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 76(1): 28-38.0022-006Xhttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3137807It has been suggested that people engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) because they (a) experience heightened physiological arousal following stressful events and use NSSI to regulate experienced distress and (b) have deficits in their social problem-solving skills that interfere with the performance of more adaptive social responses. However, objective physiological and behavioral data supporting this model are lacking. The authors compared adolescent self-injurers (n = 62) with noninjurers (n = 30) and found that self-injurers showed higher physiological reactivity (skin conductance) during a distressing task, a poorer ability to tolerate this distress, and deficits in several social problem-solving abilities. These findings highlight the importance of attending to increased arousal, distress tolerance, and problem-solving skills in the assessment and treatment of NSSI.en-USproblem solvingdistress tolerancephysiological arousalself-mutilationself-harmJournal Article10.1037/0022-006X.76.1.28