Motivational–addictive profiles of nonsuicidal self-injury in Chinese youth: a cluster analysis with validation using external correlates

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The study identified three distinct profiles of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among Chinese adolescents based on motivational and addiction-like features.
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The three profiles are Emotion-regulation, Multi-motivated/high-addiction, and Lower-severity, with varying frequencies of NSSI behaviors.
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Higher-severity clusters exhibited significantly greater monthly and yearly NSSI frequency compared to the Lower-severity group.
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Pain perception was notably lower in the high-addiction cluster, indicating a potential difference in how pain is experienced.
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The findings suggest that integrating motivational and addiction-like characteristics can enhance the understanding and treatment of NSSI.

Frontiers In Psychiatry

by Mengying Wu, Jian Lin, Jialing Huang, Haisheng Zhang, Jian Xie, Chenyi Yan, Shu Yu, Changchun Hu
April 30, 2026

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