title: Risk factors for deliberate self-harm among female college students: the role and interaction of childhood maltreatment, emotional inexpressivity, and affect intensity/reactivity.
abstract: Despite the clinical importance of deliberate self-harm, research on the risk factors for self-harm among nonclinical populations has been limited. This study examined the role of childhood maltreatment, emotional inexpressivity, and affect intensity/reactivity in the self-harm behavior of 249 female college students. Childhood maltreatment and low positive affect intensity/reactivity reliably distinguished women with frequent self-harm from women with no history of self-harm, as did the combination of greater maltreatment, greater inexpressivity, and higher levels of affect intensity/reactivity (global and negative). Among women with a history of self-harm, emotional inexpressivity was associated with more frequent self-harm, as was the combination of greater maltreatment, greater inexpressivity, and lower levels of positive affect intensity/reactivity.
authors.affiliation: McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA. KLGratz@aol.com
authors.forename: Kim L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Gratz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities