Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar:114:106759.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106759. Epub 2020 Dec 2.

The relationship between alcohol and cannabis use with nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescent inpatients: Examining the 90 days prior to psychiatric hospitalization

Christina M Sellers  1 , Antonia Díaz-Valdés  2 , Michelle M Oliver  3 , Kevin M Simon  4 , Kimberly H McManama O'Brien  5
Affiliations

The relationship between alcohol and cannabis use with nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescent inpatients: Examining the 90 days prior to psychiatric hospitalization

Christina M Sellers et al. Addict Behav. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Background: This study examined the trajectories of alcohol use, cannabis use, suicide planning (SP), and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) prior to hospitalization and examined the role of alcohol and cannabis use, independently and jointly, in predicting NSSI on a daily level and over time.

Methods: Participants included 71 adolescents hospitalized for suicide risk (75% female; 25% male; Mage = 15.79). All participants drank alcohol at least once in the prior 90-days. We conducted mixed effect models to assess the trajectories of alcohol use, cannabis use, and NSSI over the 90-days prior hospitalization. To test the effect of SP, alcohol use, and cannabis use on NSSI, we conducted logistic random effect models, while controlling for demographics.

Results: SP (OR = 4.47, p < 0.001) and suicide ideation (SI) (OR = 10.09, p < 0.001) significantly increased the odds of engaging in NSSI. Neither cannabis nor alcohol use independently predicted the odds of engaging in NSSI, however, the co-occurrence of alcohol and cannabis use increased the odds of engaging in NSSI on a given day (OR = 30.5, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Study findings extend current knowledge about the longitudinal and day-to-day relationships between alcohol and cannabis use and NSSI. Results underscore the importance of developing interventions that address polysubstance use among suicidal adolescents engaging in NSSI.

Keywords: Adolescents; Alcohol; Cannabis; Nonsuicidal self-injury; Suicide attempts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ahmadi-Montecalvo H, Lilly CL, Zullig KJ, Jarrett T, Cottrell LA, & Dino GA (2019). A latent class analysis of the co-occurrence of risk behaviors among adolescents. American Journal of Health Behavior, 43(3), 449–463. 10.5993/AJHB.43.3.1 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Asarnow JR, Porta G, Spirito A, Emslie G, Clarke G, Wagner KD, … Brent DA. (2011). Suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury in the treatment of resistant depression in adolescents: Findings from the TORDIA study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.04.003 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Azevedo-Filho A, & Shachter RD (1994). Laplace’s Method Approximations for Probabilistic Inference in Belief Networks with Continuous Variables.
    1. Bachman JG, Johnston LD, & O’malley PM (n.d.). Explaining Recent Increases in Students’ Marijuana Use: Impacts of Perceived Risks and Disapproval, 1976 through 1996. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barrocas AL, Giletta M, Hankin BL, Prinstein MJ, & Abela JRZ (2014). Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence: Longitudinal Course, Trajectories, and Intrapersonal Predictors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(2), 369–380. 10.1007/s10802-014-9895-4 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types