Deliberate self‐harm and psychological problems in young adolescents: Evidence of a bidirectional relationship in girls

Lundh, L. G., Wångby‐Lundh, M. & Bjärehed, J. (2011). Deliberate self‐harm and psychological problems in young adolescents: Evidence of a bidirectional relationship in girls. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52 , 476–483. The purpose of this study was to test the hypotheses that there is a bidirectional prospective relationship between mental health and deliberate self‐harm, in the sense that (1) psychological problems are a risk factor for the development of self‐harm; (2) self‐harm is a risk factor for the development of psychological problems; and (3) the relative absence of psychological problems is a protective factor against the continued use of self‐harm in adolescents who have started to harm themselves. This was studied in a community sample of 879 young adolescents by means of a 2‐wave longitudinal design with a one‐year interval, with self‐harm measured by a nine‐item version of the Deliberate Self‐Harm Inventory (DSHI‐9r) and psychological problems by the self‐report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The hypothesis of bidirectional relationship between psychological problems and self‐harm was supported among girls, but not among boys – although there was evidence of psychological problems as a risk factor of self‐harm in boys, the converse was not the case. The relative absence of psychological problems was found to be a protective factor against self‐harm only among boys, but not among girls. The results are discussed in terms of self‐harm having a different role in the development of psychopathology among girls than among boys.