The Predictive Effect of Depression on Self-Injury: Positive Youth Development as a Moderator

Xiaoqin Zhu () and Daniel Shek ()
Additional contact information
Xiaoqin Zhu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Daniel Shek: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2023, vol. 18, issue 6, No 2, 2877-2894

Abstract: Abstract While findings have documented the association between adolescent depression and self-injury, few studies have investigated the moderating effect of positive youth development (PYD) qualities on the association. This study examined concurrent and longitudinal predictive effects of depression and PYD qualities on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal self-injury (SSI) among Chinese adolescents. The moderating effects of PYD qualities were also studied. Two waves of data with an approximate 6-month interval were collected from five primary and secondary schools in Chengdu, China. A total of 6,948 adolescents aged 10 to 16 (Mage = 12.91, SD = 1.69 at the first wave, 51.17% boys) formed the working sample. Latent moderated structural equation modeling revealed that depression was a positive concurrent and longitudinal predictor of both NSSI and SSI whereas PYD qualities showed adverse concurrent and longitudinal predictive effects. The latent interaction effects were also significant in both cross-sectional and longitudinal models, with PYD qualities mitigating the positive effects of depression on NSSI and SSI. The results suggest that PYD qualities did not only directly reduce the risk of NSSI and SSI among adolescents but also attenuated the influence of depression on self-injury. These findings provide additional evidence for the protective role of PYD qualities in adolescent development and imply that improving PYD qualities may be a promising way to prevent and treat adolescent self-injury.

Keywords: Self-Injury; Positive Youth Development; Depression; Adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-023-10211-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:18:y:2023:i:6:d:10.1007_s11482-023-10211-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11482

DOI: 10.1007/s11482-023-10211-x

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Research in Quality of Life is currently edited by Daniel Shek

More articles in Applied Research in Quality of Life from Springer, International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().