Citation

Evseev VD, Bokhan NA, Mandel AI, Kadochnikova SV. Psychiatry (Moscow) 2022; 20(4): 27-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022)

DOI

10.30629/2618-6667-2022-20-4-27-35

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: suicidal behavior, intentional self-harm and non-suicidal self-harm are important precursors of suicide in children and adolescents. The objective: to determine the prevalence and structure of non-suicidal self-harm, as well as the relationship of non-suicidal self-harming behavior with aggression, anxiety and depression in a non-clinical group of young men of military age. Participants and methods: the object of the study was 507 young men (from 18 to 27 years old). The average age of the examined was 19.32 years (± 2.35). Assessment of non-suicidal self-harm was carried out using a clinical interview and the scale of self-harming behavior (Polskaya N.A., 2014). The analysis of patterns of aggressive behavior was carried out with the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) to identify the propensity to aggression, the assessment of anxiety and depression level was assessed on Beck Anxiety and Depression Scales (BAI; BDI).

RESULTS: the study showed a high prevalence of non-suicidal selfharm in the non-clinical population of young people (33.9%). Instrumental self-harm was committed at least once in a lifetime by 14.7% of the surveyed, somatic -- 19.2%. The most common acts of instrumental self-harm are blows with a fist, foot, head or body body on hard surfaces and cuts with cutting objects. From somatic -- biting nails and lips, biting cheeks and tongue, combing the skin and creating obstacles to wound healing were the most frequent. As a result of the correlation analysis of the links of acts of self-harm with the domains of the scale of propensity to aggression from instrumental self-harm, a significant positive correlation was found in relation to self-burns. Punching your body and pulling out your hair turned out to be associated with all domains of the aggression scale. Self-harming was accompanied by depressive symptoms. Symptoms of anxiety correlate with somatic self-harm -- punching your body, scratching your skin and biting your cheeks or tongue.

CONCLUSION: non-suicidal self-harm showed positive correlations with manifestations of aggression, anxiety and depression. Effective and evidence-based prevention programs can be implemented at the population, subpopulation and individual levels to timely identify self-harming behavior. At the stage of psychiatric examination of young people, it is advisable to include in the complex of psychodiagnostic methods scales aimed at identifying self-harm, anxiety, depression and aggressive behavior. © Евсеев В.Д. и др., 2022

Language: en

Keywords

Anxiety; Depression; Aggression; Non-clinical population; Non-suicidal self-harm; Patterns of self-harm; Young military age