Interpersonal stress stimuli decrease inhibitory control in adolescents with repetitive non-suicidal self-injury: Evidence from two ERP studies

J Affect Disord. 2026 Feb 27:121518. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2026.121518. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Repetitive Non-suicidal Self-Injury (R-NSSI) is complex and prevalent in adolescents. Although inhibitory control impairment implies an important role in maintenance of R-NSSI, it remains unclear whether these impairments affect interference inhibition, response inhibition, or both-particularly under interpersonal stress. This study employed the event-related potentials (ERP) to examine whether adolescents with R-NSSI display impairments in both interference and response inhibition to interpersonal stress stimuli. From a total of 2708 students (50.1% female, M_age = 12.84 years) who completed the prescreening questionnaire, ninety-six eligible adolescents were selected to participate in two studies. Angry and disgusted faces were served to represent interpersonal stress and happy faces served as baseline in two studies. In study 1, twenty-two R-NSSI adolescents and twenty-two healthy controls completed the negative affective priming (NAP) task to evaluate the interference inhibition. In study 2, thirty-two R-NSSI adolescents and twenty healthy controls completed the two-choice emotional oddball task to evaluate the response inhibition. The ERP was recorded while adolescents performed the task in Study 1 and Study 2. In study 1, adolescents with R-NSSI exhibited more impairment in interference inhibition toward disgusted faces compared with healthy controls, evidenced by lower NAP bias scores, smaller P2d amplitudes, and larger LPCd amplitudes. In study 2, adolescents with R-NSSI exhibited more impairment in response inhibition across all faces compared with healthy controls, with longer RTs and smaller P3d amplitudes. This study identifies distinct neurocognitive patterns, showing interpersonal stress related deficits in interference inhibition and more general deficits in response inhibition among R-NSSI adolescents.

PMID:41765242 | DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2026.121518