Sarah E. Victor, Ph.D.

Research Interests

My research is focused on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide. I am interested in identifying factors that increase risk for these problems across people, as well as intra-individual factors that contribute to short-term changes in self-harm risk in daily life.

Some of the questions I'm working to answer are:​​

• Why do some people engage in NSSI and then stop, while others continue?

• Why do some people act on suicidal thoughts, while others do not?

• Why, and for whom, does NSSI seem to confer increased risk of suicide?

• Who is most likely to benefit from psychological treatment for these problems, and who is at highest risk of poor outcomes?

• When is an at-risk person most likely to think about NSSI or suicide in their daily life?

• What thoughts, experiences, and emotions occur in the minutes to hours leading up to an episode of NSSI or suicidal behavior?​​

Selected Research

Victor, S.E., Lewis, S.L., & Muehlenkamp, J.J. (in press). Psychologists with lived experience of non-suicidal self-injury: Priorities, obstacles, and recommendations for inclusion. Psychological Services.

Kaufman, E.A., Victor, S.E., Hipwell, A.E., & Stepp, S.D. (2020). Reciprocal influences of parent-adolescent borderline personality symptoms over three years. Journal of Personality Disorders.

Scott, L.N., Victor, S.E., Kaufman, E.A., Beeney, J.E., Byrd, A.L., Vine, V., Pilkonis, P.A., & Stepp, S.D. (2020). Affective dynamics across internalizing and externalizing dimensions of psychopathology. Clinical Psychological Science.

Vine, V., Victor, S.E., Mohr, H., Byrd, A.L., & Stepp, S.D. (2020). Adolescent suicide risk and experiences of dissociation in daily life. Psychiatry Research.

Klonsky, E.D., Victor, S.E., Hibbert, A.S., & Hajcak, G. (2019). The Multidimensional Emotion Questionnaire (MEQ): Rationale and Initial Psychometric Properties. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.

Victor, S.E., Hipwell, A.E., Stepp, S.D., & Scott, L.N. (2019). Parent and peer relationships as longitudinal predictors of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury onset. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health.

Victor, S.E., Scott, L.N., Stepp, S.D., & Goldstein, T.R. (2019).  I want you to want me: Interpersonal stress and affective experiences as within-person predictors of nonsuicidal self-injury and suicide urges in daily life. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior.

May, A.M., & Victor, S.E. (2018). From ideation to action: Recent advances in understanding suicide capability. Current Opinion in Psychology.

Victor, S.E., & Klonsky, E.D. (2018). Understanding the social context of adolescent non-suicidal self-injury. Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Victor, S.E., Muehlenkamp, J.J., Hayes, N.A., Lengel, G.J., Styer, D.M., & Washburn, J.J. (2018). Characterizing gender differences in nonsuicidal self-injury: Evidence from a large clinical sample of adolescents and adults. Comprehensive Psychiatry.

Victor, S.E., Davis, T., & Klonsky, E.D. (2017). Descriptive characteristics and initial psychometric properties of the Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Disorder Scale. Archives of Suicide Research. Measure and Scoring

Victor, S.E., & Klonsky, E.D. (2016). Validation of a brief version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18) in five samples.  Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. Scoring Templates

Victor, S.E., & Klonsky, E.D. (2014). Correlates of suicide attempts among self-injurers: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review.