Characteristics of Psychological Separation from Parents, Subjective Experience of Loneliness and Self-Attitude in Adolescents with a Tendency to Self-Injurious Behavior

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the psychological characteristics of separation from parents, the subjective experience of loneliness and self-attitude in adolescents with self-damaging behavior. The sample consisted of 108 teenagers from the city of Novosibirsk aged 15 to 18 years with and without self-harm. The tools for collecting material were: the author’s questionnaire; methodology “Scale of causes of self-damaging behavior” N.A. Polish; PSI (Psychological Separation Inventory) methodology adapted by V.P. Dzukaeva and T.Yu. Sadovnikova; D. Russell’s scale of subjective feelings of loneliness (UCLA, version 3) adapted by I. N. Ishmukhametov; methodology “Personal differential”, adapted at the Research Institute. V.M. Bekhterev. As a result, it was found that adolescents with self-damaging behavior had significantly lower indicators of conflict separation with their father and mother and higher indicators of emotional separation with their father. In the self-attitude of these adolescents, there is a feeling of their low value, self-rejection, dependence on external assessments, difficulties with self-regulation and self-control. Also, adolescents with self-harm experience a feeling of loneliness as a state of discomfort against the background of feeling their low value and misunderstanding by others.