Abstract
BackgroundLow health literacy (HL) has been known to be involved in various risk behaviors and mental disorder among adolescent. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent and interactive association between HL and self-reported mental health with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in Chinese middle school students.MethodsTwenty five thousand three hundred seventy-eight junior and high school students in China were enrolled in this study. The outcomes were self-reported HL, psychological symptoms and NSSI. Logistic regression models were conducted to examine relations between them.ResultsThe prevalence of NSSI was 27.5 %. Low HL was significantly associated with NSSI (OR = 2.538, 95 % CI: 2.335–2.758). Psychological symptoms were significantly positively correlated with NSSI (OR = 3.872, 95 % CI: 3.637–4.123). Low HL and psychological symptoms were independently and interactively associated with increased risks of NSSI.ConclusionsThese results suggest that Chinese middle school students with low HL and psychological symptoms are intending to exhibit NSSI. The intervention programs of mental health and behavior problems should enhance HL levels and attenuate the severity of psychological symptoms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1035-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Low health literacy (HL) has been known to be involved in various risk behaviors and mental disorder among adolescent
These results suggest that Chinese middle school students with low HL and psychological symptoms are intending to exhibit non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI)
Taken together, the present study highlights the importance of associations of HL and psychological symptoms with NSSI in Chinese middle school students
Summary
Low health literacy (HL) has been known to be involved in various risk behaviors and mental disorder among adolescent. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent and interactive association between HL and self-reported mental health with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in Chinese middle school students. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is any intentional, self-directed behavior that causes immediate destruction of body tissues, with no suicidal intent. This behavior is included in a variety of forms, such as cutting, skin carving, burning, severe scratching/abrading, and punching/hitting [5]. A quite high proportion of adolescent who engage in NSSI are supposed to show elevated levels of psychological symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, or major psychiatric disorders [6, 7]. The prevalence of common NSSI ranges from 7 to 37.2 % in students of western countries [8,9,10], and approximately 17.0 % of students were reported to have NSSI behavior in China [7]
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