The effect of shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, and internalizing tendencies on nonsuicidal self-injury.

Nonsuicidal self-injury is especially common in adolescents and young adults. Self-injury may be related to shame or guilt--two moral emotions--as these differentially predict other maladaptive behaviors. Using a college sample, we examined not only how shame-proneness, guilt-proneness, and internalizing emotional tendencies related to self-injury, but also whether these moral emotions moderate the relation between internalizing tendencies and self-injury. High shame-proneness was associated with higher frequencies of self-injury. High guilt-proneness was associated with less self-injury, although this effect was mitigated at higher levels of internalizing tendencies. These results suggest shame-proneness is a risk factor for self-injury, while guilt-proneness is protective.