The role of depressive symptoms, family invalidation and behavioral impulsivity in the occurrence and repetition of non-suicidal self-injury in Chinese adolescents: a 2-year follow-up study

Abstract

This study used zero-inflated poisson regression analysis to examine the role of depressive symptoms, family invalidation, and behavioral impulsivity in the occurrence and repetition of non-suicidal self-injury among Chinese community adolescents over a 2-year period. Participants, 4782 high school students, were assessed twice during the follow-up period. Results indicate that while Year 1 depressive symptoms and family invalidation were significantly associated with the occurrence of Year 2 NSSI, Year 1 behavioral impulsivity contributed to both the occurrence and repetition of Year 2 NSSI. Findings of this study suggest that adolescents who display multiple impulsive behaviors may be at particular risk for engaging in repetitive NSSI. Clinical implications of these findings and future research directions were discussed.