TY  - EJOU
AU  - Xu, Xin 
AU  - Liang, Shaobo 

TI  - Longitudinal Relationship between Emotional Disorder and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Chinese University Students: A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model
T2  - International Journal of Mental Health Promotion

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 2049-8543

AB  - <b>Objectives:</b> Whether emotional disorder (ED) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) influence each other over time remains underexplored, particularly at the within-person level. This study examined the reciprocal longitudinal associations between ED and NSSI among mainland Chinese university students. <b>Methods:</b> Three-wave panel data were collected at six-month intervals from 574 Chinese university students at Wave 1 (51.22% female; mean age = 22.58 years, SD = 2.89). ED was assessed using the Multidimensional Emotional Disorder Inventory (MEDI), and NSSI frequency was measured using a validated six-item scale. A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) was used to separate stable between-person differences from within-person longitudinal effects. Missing data were handled using full-information maximum likelihood. Longitudinal measurement invariance was tested before examining cross-lagged associations. <b>Results:</b> At the between-person level, students with persistently higher ED also reported higher overall NSSI frequency (<i>β</i> = 0.487, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). At the within-person level, ED at Wave 2 significantly predicted increased NSSI at Wave 3 (<i>β</i> = 0.351, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), whereas the Wave 1 to Wave 2 path was not significant. Conversely, NSSI at Wave 1 predicted higher ED at Wave 2 (<i>β</i> = 0.183, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05), but this effect was not replicated from Wave 2 to Wave 3. Longitudinal measurement invariance supported the comparability of constructs across waves. <b>Conclusions:</b> ED and NSSI showed evidence of reciprocal within-person associations, although the effects were interval-specific rather than consistently bidirectional across all waves. These findings suggest that university counselling services should address both transdiagnostic emotional distress and self-injury behaviors in order to target the interval-specific associations identified here. Culturally sensitive interventions may be particularly important in the Chinese university context.
KW  - Emotional disorder; non-suicidal self-injury; longitudinal study; random intercept cross-lagged panel model; Chinese university students

DO  - 10.32604/ijmhp.2026.082789