Journal
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
Volume 52, Issue 15, Pages 3560-3569Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291721000295
Keywords
Adolescence; children; network analysis; pain; self-harm thoughts and behaviours; young people
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Funding
- Stiftung OskarHelene-Heim
- FAZIT-STIFTUNG
- Faculty of Social Sciences University of Oslo
- Wellcome Trust [107496/Z/15/Z]
- Wellcome Trust [107496/Z/15/Z] Funding Source: Wellcome Trust
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Self-harm thoughts and behaviours (SHTBs) are a serious public health concern in young people. Emerging research suggests that pain may be an important correlate of SHTBs in young people. This study used network analysis to delineate the relationship between SHTBs, pain, and other correlates of SHTBs in a population-based sample of young people, finding that pain is an independent correlate of SHTBs.
Background Self-harm thoughts and behaviours (SHTBs) are a serious public health concern in young people. Emerging research suggests that pain may be an important correlate of SHTBs in young people. However, it remains unclear whether this association is driven by the shared association with other correlates of SHTBs. This study used network analysis to delineate the relationship between SHTBs, pain and other correlates of SHTBs in a population-based sample of young people. Methods We performed secondary analyses, using data from 7977 young people aged 5-16 years who participated in the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Survey in 2004. We used chi(2) tests and network analysis to examine the complex interplay between SHTBs, pain and other correlates of SHTBs, including psychiatric disorders, childhood trauma, stressful life events, parental distress, family dysfunction, peer problems and inhibitory control deficits. Results Pain was associated with a doubled risk of SHTBs, and likewise, SHTBs were associated with a doubled risk of pain. Furthermore, network analysis showed that although pain was significantly associated with all measured correlates of SHTBs, except family dysfunction, pain was most strongly associated with SHTBs, after accounting for these measured correlates. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to utilise network analysis to provide novel insights into the complex relationship between SHTBs, pain and other known correlates of SHTBs in young people. Results suggest that pain is an independent correlate of SHTBs. Future research should aim to identify underlying mechanisms.
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