Associations of neglect and physical abuse with non-suicidal self-injury behaviors among adolescents in rural China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the relationship between neglect , physical abuse and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors among middle school students in rural China.@*Methods@#A total of 14 162 adolescents in Anhui, Guangdong, Yunnan, Heilongjiang and Hubei provinces were selected by multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Data were obtained on demographic information, neglect, physical abuse and non-suicidal self-injury from questionnaire survey.@*Results@#During the past year before survey, 13.5% of participants engaged in self-injury 5 times or more, 15.4% of participants engaged in self-injury 1 to 4 times. Both neglect and physical abuse were significantly associated with self-injury in adolescents(P<0.01). After adjusted for gender, ethnicity, the only-one child, family structure, family economic status, and other variables, multinomial logistic regression showed that neglect and physical abuse were positively associated with self-injury behavior(OR=1.43-3.23). There was a potential dose-response relationship of accumulating physical abuse types and self-injury, with more physical abuse types, the higher risk of self-injury behavior.@*Conclusion@#Neglect and physical abuse experience should be considered as a risk factor for NSSI among adolescents in rural China. Specific intervention targeting neglect and physical abuse should be strengthened to reduce the occurrence of NSSI.