This study found that participants reported a significant amount of self-injury, averaging 109.27, highlighting a substantial engagement in these behaviors, often driven by difficulties in managing emotions. Participants demonstrated varying coping strategies, reflected in average scores of 40 for cognitive emotion regulation and 63.72 for behavioral emotion regulation. Crucially, we observed strong negative correlations between both cognitive regulation (r = -0.64, p = 0.001) and behavioral regulation (r = -0.73, p = 0.001) and self-injury. This means that poorer cognitive regulation and more pronounced behavioral regulation were linked to higher instances of self-injury. Further analysis, using multiple regression, confirmed that these two emotion regulation styles accounted for 42% of the variation in self-injury, with behavioral regulation showing a particularly strong predictive effect. In essence, these results emphasize the critical role of emotion regulation interventions in supporting adolescents vulnerable to self-injury.

The present study revealed a concerning prevalence of self-injury among Iranian adolescent athletes. While self-injurious behavior can be transient, this study, conducted at a specific point in time, offers a valuable snapshot of prevalence within this population. This finding aligns with broader research indicating the presence of self-injury among youth. In this line, it is estimated that 3–7% of adolescents meet the criteria for self-injury [33]. Previous studies have shown that 32% of children and adolescents suffer from some type of anxiety disorder [34]. This suffering can be due to lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, or feelings of hopelessness due to poor social and academic performance [35]. Studies indicate that between 30% and 50% of these cases of anxiety in adolescents are associated with another type of behavioral disorder such as self-injurious behavior, aggressive behaviors, eating disorders, and conduct disorder [36]. Furthermore, 80% of adolescents with these conditions do not receive any professional treatment or care [37]. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize attention to adolescents, particularly regarding self-injurious behaviors.

Furthermore, results of the present study indicated a significant negative relationship between cognitive emotion regulation and self-injury. This suggests that improved cognitive emotion regulation skills may serve as a protective factor against self-injury. This aligns with theoretical frameworks of self-injury, such as the experiential avoidance model [38], and the cognitive-emotional model [39, 40], which emphasize the role of poor cognitive emotion regulation in self-injury. These models posit that difficulties in cognitive emotion regulation contribute to self-injury by hindering individuals’ ability to manage distressing emotions effectively.

In the specific context of adolescent athletes, the interplay between cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation and self-injury may exhibit unique characteristics [23]. While general models highlight the protective role of strong emotion regulation, the high-pressure environment of competitive sports could potentially exacerbate emotion regulation deficits [1]. Athletes may experience intense performance anxiety, pressure to succeed, and fear of failure, which could overwhelm their coping mechanisms. Additionally, the emphasis on physical strength and emotional resilience within sports culture might discourage athletes from seeking help for emotional distress, leading to maladaptive coping strategies like self-injury. Therefore, it might be the reason that adolescent athletes may face heightened challenges in emotion regulation compared to non-athlete populations.

Furthermore, the present findings resonate with Hasking, Whitlock, Voon and Rose [40] cognitive-emotional model of self-injury. This model incorporates the role of specific cognitions about self-injury alongside emotional experience and regulation. Individuals exhibiting heightened emotional reactivity, difficulty tolerating distress, and impaired emotion regulation, coupled with a belief in their inability to resist self-injurious urges and an expectation of positive outcomes from self-injury, demonstrate a higher likelihood of engaging in these behaviors. Conversely, individuals without a history of self-injury typically possess stronger self-efficacy beliefs regarding their ability to resist such urges [40].

On the other hand, the present study found a significant negative relationship between behavioral emotion regulation and self-injury. Previous study on behavioral emotion regulation and self-injury has almost exclusively focused on the idea that poor behavioral emotion regulation are risk factors for self-injury [18, 24]. The present study showed that behavioral emotion regulation and self-injury actually have a bidirectional and inverse relationship, such that engaging in self-injury may impair emotion regulation. This finding is consistent with personal accounts of individuals with a history of self-injury who are often afraid that disclosing self-injury will damage their relationships with coaches, teammate and family [5, 41, 42]. The present finding can be explained by the theory of emotional processes in the psychophysiological arousal model [43]. Defective processes in emotion analysis can play a significant role in self-injurious behavior. Unstable, impulsive, and out-of-control emotions can lead to self-injury and suicide. Pervious systematic review studies [19, 36] identified higher rates of self-injury among individuals with unstable emotions. Therefore, it seems that behavioral regulation and attention to healthy behavioral coping styles can play a significant role in reducing self-injury. Our finding is in line with Adrian, Zeman and Veits [44] and Sim, Adrian, Zeman, Cassano and Friedrich [45]. As a result, access to behavioral and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, defined as “beliefs and behaviors to use when a person is upset,” is important. Our finding, consistent with the claim of Gratz and Roemer [46] showed that after controlling for other aspects of impaired emotion regulation, a significant association with self-injury remained.

The results of the present study showed that cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation can predict the level of self-injury. Adolescents with poor emotion regulation usually report self-injury [40]. Consistent with previous research [47, 48], the present study found significant negative correlations between emotion regulation and self-injury. These findings suggest that poorer behavioral and cognitive emotion regulation is associated with increased self-injury. However, given the cross-sectional design of this study, we can only establish associations, not causal pathways. Further longitudinal or experimental research is needed to determine the direction and nature of this relationship.

In therapeutic interventions for adolescent athletes who engage in self-injury, it’s beneficial to prioritize the development of stronger, more supportive relationships with coaches and peers. Specifically, fostering trust, open communication, and a sense of warmth within these key relationships can be a valuable component of the intervention [24, 49]. In addition, addressing cognitive and behavioral emotion regulation appears promising for reducing adolescent self-injury. Educational programs that frame self-injury as a maladaptive emotional regulation strategy may enhance coaches’ and teammates’ understanding, facilitating more effective support for adolescents struggling with emotions like fear or sadness. Furthermore, prioritizing coaches’ self-care may prove beneficial. While this study confirms the predictive power of emotion regulation in relation to self-injury, further investigation is needed to elucidate the specific mechanisms and contextual factors that exacerbate the link between emotion dysregulation and self-injury [24].

This finding is consistent with previous research showing that difficulty in regulating behavioral and cognitive emotion is a predictor of self-injury [46]. According to various theories, a person who has difficulty in emotion regulation is more likely to self-injure. This claim is consistent with the experiential avoidance model [38] and general emotion regulation models [5]. Self-injury is used as a tool of maladaptive emotional expression in some adolescents. This strategy will not be effective and negative emotions will continue and even become dominant. One of the important factors in the continuation of self-injury is the belief in the inefficiency of emotion regulation. This distinction is very important clinically, because it points to the possibility of reconstructing cognitions about the effectiveness of emotion regulation as an important aspect of self-injury treatment. As a result, the present study has the clinical benefit value of emotional regulation in an adolescent athlete.

While this study provides valuable insights into the relationship between emotion regulation and self-injury among Iranian adolescent athletes, it is important to acknowledge the limitations regarding generalizability. The findings may not be directly applicable to non-athlete adolescents or those from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural variations in emotion regulation strategies and self-injury motivations could significantly influence the observed associations. For example, the unique stressors and cultural norms within the Iranian athletic context may contribute to specific patterns of emotion regulation and self-injury that differ from those seen in other populations. Therefore, caution is warranted when extrapolating these results to broader populations. Future research should explore these relationships in diverse samples to enhance the generalizability of the findings. The current study suggests that coaches and teammates could play a role in intervention efforts, given their frequent interaction with adolescent athletes. However, it’s important to acknowledge that this suggestion is based on the context of the athletic environment rather than direct empirical evidence within this study. The role of parental influence, school-based mental health services, and professional therapeutic interventions was not explicitly examined, which limits our understanding of the broader support network. Future research should investigate the efficacy of multi-faceted intervention approaches, including the involvement of parents, school counselors, and mental health professionals, to develop comprehensive and effective support systems for adolescent athletes at risk of self-injury. A more thorough exploration of these diverse intervention strategies would enhance the practical implications of our findings and inform the development of targeted support programs. Furthermore, third limitation of this study is the absence of a confirmatory factor analysis to re-evaluate the structural validity of the Self-Injurious Behaviors Scale, Behavioral Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire within our specific adolescent athlete population. While these scales have demonstrated adequate validity in previous research, including studies with adolescent samples, we did not specifically assess their factor structure within this unique group. Therefore, while we relied on established validity from prior studies, future research should consider examining the factor structure of these instruments within adolescent athlete populations to ensure their applicability and accuracy in this context.