<p>Peer victimization, depressive symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury behavior in Chinese migrant children: the roles of gender and stressful life events</p>

Abstract

Background Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become a worldwide health concern, especially for the disadvantaged group such as Chinese rural-to-urban migrant children. Peer victimization is a risk factor for NSSI and is quite common among Chinese migrant children. However, few studies that focused on this group have paid attention to the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI. The current study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the mediating role of depressive symptoms and the moderating role of stressful life events in the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI in male and female migrant children. Methods A total of 650 migrant children completed self-report surveys that addressed peer victimization, NSSI, depressive symptoms, and stressful life events. Results Results showed that peer victimization was significantly related to NSSI for both migrant girls and boys. Depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI among girls, but not among boys. Additionally, stressful life events significantly moderated the relationships between depressive symptoms and NSSI and between peer victimization and NSSI among girls; higher levels of depressive symptoms or peer victimization coupled with more stressful life events related to a higher probability of NSSI. For boys, stressful life events moderated the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI; higher levels of peer victimization combined with increased NSSI behaviors among the boys who reported more stressful life events. Conclusions These findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms that inform the relationship between peer victimization and NSSI. Moreover, they indicate that future interventions can be enhanced by targeting depressive symptoms among girls and stressful life events among both girls and boys.

Non‐suicidal self‐injury in adolescence: Longitudinal evidence of recursive associations with adolescent depression and parental rejection

“…Depressive symptoms have been revealed as the consistent risk factor accounting for adolescent NSSI behavior (Nock, 2010; Valencia‐Agudo et al, 2018). The present results are consistent with cross‐sectional results showing that depressive symptoms mediate the association between exposure to stressful experiences and NSSI (Brown et al, 2018; Wang & Liu, 2019), but the current longitudinal design provides much stronger evidence than was available before. This study thus makes a significant contribution to the literature, as no longitudinal studies to our knowledge have attempted to shed light on the underlying mechanisms linking parental rejection and NSSI among adolescents.…”

“…Preliminary studies have emphasized the importance of depressive symptoms as the statistical mediator of the cross‐sectional association between adverse experiences (e.g., childhood maltreatment; bullying victimization; a lack of parental support) and NSSI (Baetens et al, 2015; Baiden, Stewart, & Fallon, 2017; Brown et al, 2018; Wang & Liu, 2019). However, longitudinal research looking at whether parental rejection could exact an indirect effect on NSSI through depressive symptoms is still lacking.…”

Peer Victimization and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among Chinese Left-Behind Children: The Moderating Roles of Subjective Socioeconomic Status and Social Support

“…Specifically, in the first block, covariates (gender, age, length of separation, and family income) were entered. Gender, age, and length of separation were controlled because they have been shown to contribute to the individual differences concerning the main variables in the current study (Nock, 2010;Shen, 2009;Wang & Liu, 2019). Family income served as the index of objective SES because left-behind children's parents usually do not have a steady job in the cities to which they migrate and their education levels are typically low.…”

“…As we did not focus on the mechanism of the specific types of peer victimization, the mean scores of all items were used; higher scores indicated higher levels of peer victimization. The scale has been successfully used among Chinese adolescents (Wang & Liu, 2019;Zhu & Lei, 2005). Cronbach's alpha was .94 in the current study.…”

“…Theoretically speaking, according to the general strain theory, these protective factors mentioned above (the sense of control, high self-esteem, and social capital) can relieve the strain resulting from peer victimization, in turn leading an individual not to engage in deviant or problem behavior such as NSSI. Contrariwise, low subjective SES has been associated with feelings of anxiety, stress, and inequality, which could increase the negative influence of peer victimization (Jackson et al, 2017;Wang & Liu, 2019). Previous research has specifically identified an association between low levels of perceived social status and self-harm behaviors (Wetherall et al, 2019).…”