The aim of this study was to conduct the first meta-analysis comparing risk for NSSI between sexual minority and heterosexual persons. Eleven published and 4 unpublished studies were reviewed, describing associations between sexual orientation and NSSI in 7,147 sexual minority and 61,701 heterosexual participants. The overall weighted effect size for the relationship between sexual orientation and NSSI using a random-effects model was OR = 3.00 (95% CI = 2.46-3.66), indicating a medium-to-large effect. Sexual minority adolescents and bisexuals were found to be at particularly high-risk. These findings highlight the need to examine mechanisms linking sexual orientation and NSSI in future research. Building on these findings can add to understanding the associations between sexual orientation, NSSI, and suicidality, as well as prevention/intervention.
In this study, we experimentally assessed whether participating in online research about nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) may produce iatrogenic effects. A sample of 847 college students was randomly assigned to either an experimental condition ( n = 439), in which they were exposed to questionnaires assessing NSSI, or a control condition ( n = 408) that did not include NSSI questions. Immediate effects were evaluated with pre- and postmeasures, and 3 weeks later, 472 participants (68%) participated in a follow-up assessment of reactions, NSSI behavior, and urge to self-injure. Overall, results indicated that responding to detailed questions about NSSI did not produce iatrogenic effects immediately or over the follow-up period and may have contributed to positive outcomes. The positive findings largely held true for participants who reported engaging in different severities of NSSI behavior. There do not appear to be significant short-term adverse or iatrogenic effects of participating in detailed, online NSSI research. Implications for researchers and ethics review boards are discussed.
The motives of suicide attempts among a community sample of 99 U.S. high school students were explored. Participants completed an in-depth computer-assisted self interview about their most recent attempts as well as additional psychosocial measures. Results indicated that nearly 75% of the adolescents engaged in suicide attempts for reasons other than killing themselves and that depressive symptoms and premeditation prior to the attempt were significantly associated with increased risk for engaging in the attempts with death as a clear motive. Linking motive for an attempt (death, interpersonal communication, emotion regulation) and treatment approach may improve prevention of subsequent attempts and completed suicides.
These results suggest that college students generally hold similar perceptions of the functions of NSSI. Our findings suggest intervention/prevention efforts may consider broadening the selection of gatekeepers (e.g., peers with no history of NSSI) in schools and colleges to identify at-risk students and encourage help-seeking behaviors.
The present chapter reviews school-based suicide prevention strategies. School-based suicide prevention efforts have usually been designed separately for high school and college/university students, but the underlying strategies are similar, having two general goals: case finding with accompanying referral and treatment or risk factor reduction. Promising empirically based prevention strategies include screening for at-risk youth, gatekeeper training programmes, and skills training for students. Positive results from new ‘hybrid’ curriculum programmes may lead to overcoming the long-standing reluctance to implement curriculum-based strategies due to deleterious effects formerly reported for suicide ‘awareness’ curriculum programmes. Continuing evaluation studies of all the specific programmes reviewed in this chapter are needed, particularly as they are adapted to the cultural context in which a programme is to be implemented. A remaining challenge is to overcome the obstacles that have impeded the development and implementation of suicide prevention programmes in developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Today there is a marked disparity in the prevalence of school-based programmes between developing and developed countries.
Results suggest that it is not patterns of use or motivation to use social networks that could lead to concern about online behavior (i.e., behavior increasing risk of future NSSI) among those with NSSI history. Rather, future preventive and intervention efforts should address the NSSI-related content that is available online, since this is unregulated, often explicit, and commonly includes "pro-NSSI" content that may be problematic and increase risk among vulnerable individuals.
Results suggest that, on average, individuals who have never engaged in NSSI exercise more in the week prior to entering the partial hospital program than those who have a recent history of NSSI. Regular physical activity may be an interesting area of study to explore as a promising adjunctive intervention for NSSI (e.g., vigorous exercise as a way to tolerate distress and manage urges to self-injure).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.