Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Relation to Self-harming Behaviour in Adolescence

Abstract

Self-harming behaviour has shown an increasing trend in the population of adolescents and young adults over recent decades. Its high prevalence in both the clinical and non-clinical populations represents a serious threat to the physical and mental health of adolescents. To understand the causes and mechanisms of this unwanted phenomenon, as well as the possibilities of more effective treatment and assistance, relevant data must be obtained from many areas, including information on the overall mental health of self-harming adolescents. The aim of the work is to determine to what extent depressive and anxiety symptoms are related to self-harm and to verify the possibility of predicting self-harm based on the presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms. The study was carried out on a sample of 203 adolescents aged 15 to 19 years (M=16.62 years), 58.6% of whom were girls. The presence of depressive and anxiety symptoms detected using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 correlated, with statistical significance (p < 0.001), with the occurrence of self-harming behaviour as measured using the modified Self-Harm Inventory. Linear regression analysis showed that depressive symptoms (DS), as well as anxiety symptoms (AS) significantly (p < 0.001) predict the occurrence of self-harming behaviour (R2DS=0.495; R2AS=0.466). It can be stated that depressive and anxiety symptoms play a major role in the genesis and formation of self-harming behaviour in adolescents, which provides important information, particularly in the area of prevention of the occurrence and development of self-harming behaviour. In view of these findings, examining other co-morbidities that occur simultaneously with self-harm in this population appears to be highly beneficial.