Association of aggression and non-suicidal self injury: a school-based sample of adolescents

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescent has drawn increasing attention because it is associated with subsequent depression, drug abuse, anxiety disorders, and suicide. In the present study, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a school-based sample of Chinese adolescents and to explore the association between aggression and NSSI.

This study was part of a nationwide study on aggression among adolescents in urban areas of China. A sample of 2907 school students including 1436 boys and 1471 girls were randomly selected in Guangdong Province, with their age ranging from 10 to 18 years old. NSSI, aggression, emotional management and other factors were measured by self-administrated questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the association between aggression and NSSI, after adjustment for participants' emotional management, and other potential confounding variables.

The one year self-reported prevalence of NSSI was 33.6%. Of them, 21.7% engaged in 'minor NSSI', 11.9% in 'moderate/severe NSSI'. 96.9% of self-injuries engaged in one to five different types of NSSI in the past year. Hostility, verbal and indirect aggression was significantly associated with self-reported NSSI after adjusting for other potential factors both in 'minor NSSI' and 'moderate/severe NSSI'. Hostility, verbal and indirect aggression was significantly associated with greater risk of 'minor NSSI' and 'moderate/severe NSSI' in those who had poor emotional management ability.

These findings highlight a high prevalence of NSSI and indicate the importance of hostility, verbal and indirect aggression as potentially risk factor for NSSI among Chinese adolescents.