Predictors of onset for non-suicidal self-injury within a school-based sample of adolescents

Abstract

This paper reports on a prospective study exploring risk factors specifically related to the onset of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) during adolescence. We examined cumulative incidence and predictors of onset of NSSI over 1 year among 1,973 school-based adolescents (13-19 years old; M = 14.9, SD = 0.96) from five states in Australia. Data showed cumulative incidence of 3.8 % (95 % CI [3.0-4.7 %]) over 1 year. Multiple socio-demographic and psychosocial factors were assessed using sequential logistic regression models. Onset of NSSI was associated with being female (OR = 3.47, 95 % CI [1.48-8.18]), being born outside of Australia (OR = 3.05, 95 % CI [1.10-8.47]), not identifying as religious or spiritual (OR = 1.80, 95 % CI [1.04-3.10]), increased psychological distress (OR = 1.12, 95 % CI [1.08-1.16]), poor social support from family (OR = 0.89, 95 % CI [0.83-0.95]), poor self-esteem (OR = 0.90, 95 % CI [0.83-0.98]), and poor problem-solving coping (OR = 0.90, 95 % CI [0.82-0.99]). These findings may assist to better identify young people more likely to start self-injuring and also highlight issues to provide a focus for prevention initiatives.