AN EXPLORATION OF INDONESIAN EMERGING ADULTS NON-SUICIDAL SELF-INJURY (NSSI) FUNCTIONS AND RELIGIOUS COPING

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) serves various functions to emerging adults who engage in them, yet religious coping may influence non-suicidal self-injury engagement. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between religious coping and NSSI functions among emerging adults. Indonesian emerging adults (N = 311) aged 18–29 years old participated in an online questionnaire, which included measures of positive and negative religious coping (the Brief RCOPE) and NSSI severity and functions (the Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Function Scale). Negative religious coping significantly correlated with NSSI severity, while positive religious coping did not. Moreover, negative religious coping significantly predicted the use of NSSI to incite desirable emotions, reduce aversive feelings, facilitate help-seeking, and evade social situations. Meanwhile, positive religious coping was not a significant predictor of any of the NSSI functions. Thus, prevention and intervention programs that target negative religious coping may help reduce the use of NSSI as a coping method among emerging adults.