title: Factors distinguishing youth who report self-injurious behavior: a population-based sample.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify factors distinguishing adolescents across 3 groups: no self-harm, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) only, and NSSI and suicide attempt (NSSI + SA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from the 2007 Minnesota Student Survey. The sample included 61,330 students in grades 9 and 12. Logistic regression analysis determined factors that best distinguished adolescents who reported NSSI from those who reported no self-harm, and adolescents who reported NSSI + SA. Final models were developed over 3 stages of analysis that tested the importance of variables within risk factor, protective factor, and co-occurring health-risk behavior domains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For male and female subjects, factors that consistently distinguished youth who reported NSSI from those who reported no self-harm included depressive symptoms, hopelessness, physical abuse, less parent connectedness, running away from home, and maladaptive dieting behavior. Factors that distinguished the NSSI + SA group from the NSSI only group for both sexes were a mental health problem, depressive symptoms, hopelessness, physical abuse, and running away from home. Other factors, such as sexual abuse, were significant in models for males or females only. Hopelessness constituted the leading factor to increase the likelihood that youth who self-injured also attempted suicide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Youth engaging in NSSI experience diverse psychosocial stressors and significant distress. Clinicians and school personnel are well-positioned to offer support to these youth. Furthermore, they can help address NSSI among youth by identifying those who self-injure early, assessing for hopelessness and suicidality, facilitating connections to prosocial adults, addressing maladaptive dieting behavior, and supporting runaway youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Missouri, 505 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. taliaferrol@health.missouri.edu
authors.forename: Lindsay A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Taliaferro
authors.forename: Jennifer J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Muehlenkamp
authors.forename: Iris W
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Borowsky
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McMorris
authors.forename: Kari C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Kugler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002649:Child Abuse; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires