Does Mental Well-Being Protect against Self-Harm Thoughts and Behaviors during Adolescence? A Six-Month Prospective Investigation.

Mental well-being protects against the emergence of suicidal thoughts. However, it is not clear whether these findings extend to self-harm thoughts and behaviors irrespective of intent during adolescence-or why this relationship exists. The current study aimed to test predictions-informed by the integrated motivational-volitional (IMV) model of suicide-concerning the role of perceived defeat and entrapment within the link between mental well-being and self-harm risk. Young people (n = 573) from secondary schools across Scotland completed an anonymous self-report survey at two time points, six months apart, that assessed mental well-being, self-harm thoughts and behaviors, depressive symptomology and feelings of defeat and entrapment. Mental well-being was associated with reduced defeat and entrapment (internal and external) and a decrease in the likelihood that a young person would engage in self-harm thoughts and behaviors. The relationship between mental well-being and thoughts of self-harm was mediated by perceptions of defeat and entrapment (internal and external). Mental well-being was indirectly related to self-harm behaviors via decreased feelings of defeat and internal (but not external) entrapment. Taken together, these findings provide novel insights into the psychological processes linking mental well-being and self-harm risk and highlight the importance of incorporating the promotion of mental well-being within future prevention and early intervention efforts.