title: Peer sexual harassment and deliberate self-injury: longitudinal cross-lag investigations in Canada and Sweden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although the receipt of peer sexual harassment in schools has been linked to deliberate self-injury, the direction of association over time has not been tested. Two longitudinal studies examined whether receipt of peer sexual harassment within schools predicts engagement in deliberate self-injury or vice versa. Differences between boys and girls were also tested.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surveys were conducted in two countries, Canada and Sweden. Measures of sexual harassment and deliberate self-injury were administered yearly in classrooms. Two waves of data were collected in the Canadian study (N = 161, 59.6% girls, mean age = 13.82 years); three waves of data were collected in Sweden (N = 513, 47% girls, mean age = 13.23 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the Canadian study, deliberate self-injury predicted subsequent peer sexual harassment; the converse relationship was not significant. No significant gender differences were found. Across the three waves of the Swedish study, peer sexual harassment predicted self-injury from T1 to T2, and self-injury predicted peer sexual harassment from T2 to T3. However, self-injury did not mediate peer sexual harassment at T1 and T3. Tests of gender differences revealed self-injury predicted sexual harassment from T2 to T3 among Swedish girls but not boys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescents who deliberately self-injure may be vulnerable to sexual harassment by peers at school. Cultural norms may have a role in whether this process applies primarily to girls or to both genders. Sexual harassment by peers may also increase self-injury, but this is not subsequently linked to increases in receipt of sexual harassment.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work/Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: sheila.marshall@ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Sheila K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Pernille
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Faaborg-Andersen
authors.forename: Lauree C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Tilton-Weaver
authors.forename: Håkan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stattin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D017406:Sexual Harassment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Adolescence; Deliberate self-injury; Sexual harassment