TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SELF‐INJURY

TLDR

The study contextualizes self‑injury within existing motivational hypotheses and their treatment implications. The study aims to use an operant approach to examine how self‑injury relates to specific environmental events. Nine developmentally disabled subjects were observed under repeated exposure to analogue conditions varying play materials, experimenter demands, and social attention to assess self‑injury. Findings revealed substantial variability, yet in six of nine subjects self‑injury was consistently linked to a particular stimulus condition, indicating environmental features drive within‑subject variability.

Abstract

This study describes the use of an operant methodology to assess functional relationships between self‐injury and specific environmental events. The self‐injurious behaviors of nine developmentally disabled subjects were observed during periods of brief, repeated exposure to a series of analogue conditions. Each condition differed along one or more of the following dimensions: (1) play materials (present vs absent), (2) experimenter demands (high vs low), and (3) social attention (absent vs noncontingent vs contingent). Results showed a great deal of both between and within‐subject variability. However, in six of the nine subjects, higher levels of self‐injury were consistently associated with a specific stimulus condition, suggesting that within‐subject variability was a function of distinct features of the social and/or physical environment. These data are discussed in light of previously suggested hypotheses for the motivation of self‐injury, with particular emphasis on their implications for the selection of suitable treatments.