Child maltreatment and nonsuicidal self-injury among Chinese adolescents: The mediating effect of psychological resilience and loneliness

Nina He and Yanhui Xiang

Children and Youth Services Review, 2022, vol. 133, issue C

Abstract: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a major public health problem among adolescents. Previous studies have confirmed that child maltreatment is an important risk factor for adolescents’ NSSI, but the potential path by which child maltreatment affects NSSI is still unclear. Thus, based on Nock’s integrated theoretical model of NSSI, the present study examined the mediating role of psychological resilience and loneliness between child maltreatment and NSSI. 1951 adolescents (956 girls; mean age = 12.93, SD = 2.54) in mainland China were recruited to complete four scales, including Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8) and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Sale. The results showed that both psychological resilience and loneliness acted as mediators in the effect of child maltreatment on NSSI, and child maltreatment also affected loneliness by influencing psychological resilience, thus affecting NSSI indirectly. In addition, among different age groups, we only found the mediating effect of psychological resilience and loneliness in middle school group. And psychological resilience failed to play a mediating role in both primary school group and high school group. These results not only extend our understanding of Nock’s integrated theoretical model of NSSI, but also provide theoretical support for inhibiting adolescents’ NSSI by promoting psychological resilience and reducing the feeling of loneliness.

Keywords: Nonsuicidal self-injury; Child maltreatment; Psychological resilience; Loneliness; Adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:133:y:2022:i:c:s0190740921004114

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106335

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