Abstract
Although earlier research has highlighted that psychiatric disorders significantly impair patients’ quality of life (QoL), few studies have examined the relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and QoL. Our aim was to investigate whether QoL mediates the mental disorder–NSSI relationship, and to study the QoL ratings agreement of self and parents in a clinical population of adolescents. We involved 202 adolescents from Vadaskert Child Psychiatric Hospital and Outpatient Clinic, Budapest, aged 13–18 years. All participants completed the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory, Inventar zur Erfassung der Lebensqualität bei Kindern und Jugendlichen, and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Kid. To map the interrelationship between the NSSI, mental disorders, and QoL dimensions, Mixed Graphical Models were estimated. Adolescents with a history of NSSI rated their QoL to be significantly lower than adolescents without NSSI. Self and parents’ QoL ratings are closer in the NSSI sample than in the no-NSSI sample. Among all QoL dimensions, only family problems had a direct significant association with NSSI engagement. Our results highlight that, contrary to our hypothesis, the presence of mental disorders mediates the relationship between most QoL dimensions and the occurrence of NSSI. Our results draw attention to the potential causal effect of environmental factors (e.g., peer problems) on mental disorders that, in turn, result in NSSI. The present paper highlights the importance of network modelling in clinical research.
Highlights
Adolescents who engaged in nonsuicidal selfinjury (NSSI) will report lower quality of life (QoL) than adolescents without
Data were missing for 11 participants, so the final study sample consisted of 191 clinical adolescents
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the agreement between the QoL ratings of self and parents in clinical adolescents who engaged in NSSI, and the complex interrelations between QoL dimension, mental disorders, and NSSI
Summary
NSSI refers to the intentional destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent (such as cutting, burning, scraping skin, hitting, and biting oneself) and for purposes not culturally sanctioned [1]. Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder (NSSI-D) has been proposed as an individual new diagnostic entity in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental. Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5), under section III, ”Conditions for Further Study” [2]. The typical age onset of NSSI is 12–14 years [3]; its prevalence increases in young adolescence.
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