Objectives Maladaptive perfectionism has been shown to be associated with non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI) in adolescents. Based on the functional model of self‐injury, we predicted that this association is due to the mediating effect of psychological distress. We also tested the assumption that being mindful—that is, being able to accept rather than escape the psychological distress—would be a protective factor in this process. Methods Eight hundred and forty‐one Chinese adolescents completed online questionnaires concerning maladaptive perfectionism, psychological distress, mindfulness, and NSSI. Results Regression‐based analyses showed that maladaptive perfectionism predicted adolescents' NSSI through the indirect effect of psychological distress. Mindfulness weakened the indirect effect. Conclusions These findings suggest that self‐injury serves a function in emotion regulation and the communication of distress. The results also have implications for practice: Maladaptive perfectionism should be assessed as a risk factor for NSSI, and teaching mindfulness may be an effective intervention for adolescents who engage in this high‐risk behavior.

This study examines depression in students at public high schools in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to examine which student-level and teacher-level variables affect student depression due to teacher emotional overinvolvement and other factors. A survey instrument adapted and translated from existing surveys was distributed to 1,479 Taiwanese adolescents aged 13—15 years and 172 teachers from 10 public junior high schools in the city of Taipei. The hierarchical linear model (HLM) was used for a cross-level analysis of the data. The HLM shows that student-level measures account for most of the variance. Teacher emotional overinvolvement and core self-evaluations are the preponderant influences on student ratings. In terms of teacher-level variables, the effects of teacher involvement, teacher depression, and teacher educational background on student-level variables are strong and significant. The findings of this study recommend the development of a comprehensive counseling system for teachers and students.