Non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence: a longitudinal analysis.
Previous research has shown a consistent positive association between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms. However, the direction of the effects has not been examined. To understand whether non-suicidal self-injury predicts depressive symptoms or vice versa, we examined the relations between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms across three waves of self-report data collected 1 year apart from 506 Swedish adolescents (47% girls; M age = 13.21; SD = .57) who were attending 7th grade at the onset of the study. The results suggest that depressive symptoms predict increases in non-suicidal self-injury 1 year later between the first and second waves of the study. Between the second and third waves of the study depressive symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury were significantly correlated indicating co-occurrence with no direction of effect rather than depressive symptoms predicting non-suicidal self-injury or vice versa. Group comparisons revealed no differences for boys and girls. The findings help clarify the relationships between non-suicidal self-injury and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence.
University of British Columbia, 2080 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada. Sheila.Marshall@ubc.ca
Sheila K
SK
Marshall
Lauree C
LC
Tilton-Weaver
Håkan
H
Stattin
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden