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Assessing the Functions of Non-suicidal Self-injury: Psychometric Properties of the Inventory of Statements About Self-injury (ISAS)

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Abstract

The present study reports the psychometric properties of the Inventory of Statements About Self-injury (ISAS), a measure designed to comprehensively assess the functions of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The ISAS assesses 13 functions of NSSI, as well as the frequency of 12 NSSI behaviors. The ISAS was administered to 235 young adults from a college population who had performed at least one NSSI behavior. Consistent with previous research, ISAS functions comprised two factors representing interpersonal and intrapersonal functions. In addition, the ISAS factors exhibited excellent internal consistency and expected correlations with both clinical constructs (e.g., borderline personality disorder, suicidality, depression, anxiety) and contextual variables (e.g., tendency to self-injure alone). Findings support the reliability and validity of the ISAS. The ISAS may be useful in research and treatment contexts as a comprehensive measure of NSSI functions.

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Notes

  1. Nock and Prinstein (2004; 2005) refer to the two factors as social and automatic functions. The terms interpersonal and intrapersonal are utilized because they are considered more descriptive.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by the Office of the Vice President of Research at Stony Brook University and grant MH080096 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Correspondence to E. David Klonsky.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Table 3 Names and sample-items for 13 functions measured by the ISAS

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Klonsky, E.D., Glenn, C.R. Assessing the Functions of Non-suicidal Self-injury: Psychometric Properties of the Inventory of Statements About Self-injury (ISAS). J Psychopathol Behav Assess 31, 215–219 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-008-9107-z

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