Association between childhood emotional abuse and non-suicidal self-injury among Guangxi adolescents in China: A moderated mediation model.

Background: Childhood Emotional Abuse (CEA) is a known risk factor for Non Suicidal Self-injury (NSSI), which could have devastating repercussions. This study aimed to establish whether Parent-Child Attachment (PCA) and depressive symptoms mediated the CEA-NSSI relationship, as well as whether school connectedness moderated both the direct and indirect relationships between CEA and NSSI.
Methods: Between November and December 2022, 7447 Chinese adolescents in high schools were surveyed through multi-stage cluster random sampling. The participants completed self-reported questionnaires that assessed CEA, PCA, depressive symptoms, school connectedness, and NSSI. Relationships between these variables were examined through moderated mediation analysis using SPSS macro-PROCESS.
Results: After controlling for sociodemographic variables, we found that CEA correlated positively with NSSI through two different pathways: the mediating role of depressive symptoms and the chain-mediating role of both PCA and depressive symptoms. Moreover, school connectedness could moderate the direct and indirect relationships between CEA and NSSI.
Limitations: The study's cross-sectional design does not allow for causal inferences.
Conclusions: Overall, PCA, depressive symptoms, and school connectedness could affect the CEA-NSSI relationship.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors(Qiaoyue wei, Jianbo Liu, Wenwen Yin, Shuibo Pan, Chenyangzi Dai, Linhua Zhou, Xiaoyu Jiang, Chunyan Wang and Junduan Wu) declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)