Abstract
BackgroundSelf-harm (SH) behaviors are established risk factors of suicide, however, in Chinese left-behind children (LBC), SH remains severely under-discussed. In this study, we aimed to investigate SH and explore its association between resilience in a large group of LBC.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study of 2898 LBC was conducted in Yunnan province, China. Information was collected by self-reporting questionnaires. Descriptive analysis was used to depict and compare characteristics of the subjects. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were applied to estimate the associations between resilience and SH prevalence, SH severity, SH repetition.ResultsThe prevalence of SH in LBC was 48.8% (95%CI: 47.0–49.7%). Compared to LBC with lower level of resilience, a higher level of resilience was related to 0.40 folds of SH odds (95%CI: 0.34–0.48). Besides, among all dimensions of resilience, every 1 average score increase of emotion regulation and family support were associated with 0.13 (95%CI: 0.04–0.37) and 0.14 (95%CI: 0.04–0.47) folds of odds in severer SH, respectively; one unit increase in the average score of emotion regulation was related to an OR of 0.23 (95%CI: 0.07–0.71) for repeated SH.ConclusionsPsychological resilience presented protective effect on SH in LBC, especially the dimensions of emotion regulation and family support. Intervention measures focusing on enhancing emotion regulation ability and building parent-child connection could be considered in order to reduce SH and suicidal risk in LBC.
Highlights
Self-harm (SH) behaviors are established risk factors of suicide, in Chinese left-behind children (LBC), SH remains severely under-discussed
With the widening rural-urban split exacerbated by economical prosperity and urbanization in the last four decades in China, increasing flow of rural labors into big cities for job opportunities has generated an expanding population known as the left-behind children (LBC), which indicates to children been left at home by one or both of their migrated parents [1, 2]
SH prevalence is high among Chinese LBC and resilience may serve as a protective factor
Summary
Self-harm (SH) behaviors are established risk factors of suicide, in Chinese left-behind children (LBC), SH remains severely under-discussed. Self-harm (SH) refers to the behaviors that individual adopted to hurt oneself regardless of the intention [8]. It can occur at any age but reportedly more common in pubertal phase [9]. In China, a multi-center study based on a sample of 11,880 adolescents reported a SH prevalence of 30.3% [10]. Individual, familial, and social environmental determinants may collectively contribute to the increased SH in adolescents, and among them, it has been suggested that living in structurally or functionally abnormal family was associated with increased risk of
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