Abstract
This study examined the longitudinal associations between non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in early adolescence and various positive and negative aspects of mental health in young adulthood. The participants were a cohort of regular school students (n = 1064) in grades 7–8 from a Swedish municipality. Nine hundred and ninety-one of these completed an 11-page questionnaire (T1: Mage = 13.7; 50.3% girls); 1 year later, 984 students completed the questionnaire again (T2: Mage = 14.8; 51.1% girls); and 10 years later, 557 took part (T3: Mage = 25.3; 59.2% women). The prevalence of any NSSI (≥ 1 instance) decreased from about 40% in adolescence to 18.7% in young adulthood, while the prevalence of repetitive NSSI (≥ 5 instances) decreased from about 18 to 10%. Compared to individuals who reported no NSSI as adolescents, and controlling for gender and psychological difficulties in adolescence, adolescents with stable repetitive NSSI (i.e., repetitive NSSI at both T1 and T2) showed significantly higher levels of stress, anxiety, NSSI, and difficulties in emotion regulation 10 years later. Even infrequent and unstable repetitive NSSI in adolescence was associated with negative outcomes in young adulthood. These results suggest that stable repetitive NSSI in adolescence is a strong risk factor for mental health problems in young adulthood and that occasional engagement in NSSI in adolescence is an indicator of vulnerability for poorer mental health in young adulthood.
Highlights
Self-injurious behavior, either suicidal or non-suicidal, involves the deliberate infliction of harm on oneself [1]
This study examined the prevalence of self-injurious behavior at three time points from early adolescence to young adulthood, and studied the associations between various frequency patterns of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescence and mental well-being and functioning 10 years later
This study revealed that NSSI decreases between adolescence and young adulthood, a significant number of individuals continue to report NSSI in young adulthood
Summary
Self-injurious behavior, either suicidal or non-suicidal, involves the deliberate infliction of harm on oneself [1]. Deliberate self-harm (DSH) has often been used as a broader term for self-injurious behavior that includes both direct and indirect damage to an individual’s body, independently of suicidal intention [2]. The differentiation between suicidal and non-suicidal selfharm, is a matter of self-reported intention [4]; the behaviors most commonly associated with suicide (e.g., self-poisoning, shooting, hanging) differ from the behaviors typically associated with NSSI (e.g., cutting, burning, carving, banging). This means that the classification of self-injurious behavior into suicidal and non-suicidal may rely both on self-reported intention and observed behavior. We use the term NSSI when the self-reported intention and/or the nature of the behavior indicates that it is non-suicidal; otherwise, we use the broader terms selfinjurious behavior or self-harm
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