Facial emotion recognition in adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury

Adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) have been described as having considerable impairment in social interactions, and social difficulties are often a trigger for NSSI. However, little is known about how adolescents with NSSI disorder process facial expressions of emotion. We investigated the recognition of facial expressions of emotion in 47 adolescents with NSSI disorder, 28 clinical controls without NSSI, and 51 nonclinical controls. Following a neutral or a sad mood induction, participants were presented with a dynamic facial expression that slowly changed from neutral to full-intensity happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear or neutral (closed/open mouth). Recognition of facial expressions was measured by the intensity of the expression at which participants could accurately identify the facial expression. No group differences in the recognition of facial expressions were found. All groups required comparable stages of emotional expressivity to correctly recognize emotions, and there were no significant differences in accuracy. Results indicate no mood effect on recognition or accuracy. Valence and arousal ratings of stimuli indicated that compared to the nonclinical control group but not to clinical controls, the adolescents with NSSI disorder rated the stimuli as significantly more unpleasant and arousing.