Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume number: 133

ISSN: 0145-2134

eISSN: 1873-7757

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105870

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 
Background: Child maltreatment is a risk factor for a range of mental disorders later in life, including dangerous self-harm and suicide attempts. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying this association can inform prevention and intervention. Objective: To investigate personality functioning as a potential mediator of the association of childhood abuse and neglect and self-harm and suicide attempts in the general population. Participants and setting: Data were drawn from a representative German population sample (N = 2510). Methods: Participants filled out the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), OPD Structure Questionnaire (OPD-SQS), and items of the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI). In structural equation models, we operationalized impaired personality functioning as the mediator between childhood abuse and neglect and self-harm. Results: Individuals with a history of self-harm (combining suicide attempts, N = 47, and non-suicidal self-injury, N = 83) reported more childhood abuse and neglect (d = 1.39, p < .001) and greater impairments in personality functioning (d = 1.64, p < .001) than the rest of the population. The indirect effect via personality functioning accounted for 48.8 % of the total effect of childhood abuse and neglect on self-harm. In more differentiated analyses, emotional abuse showed the strongest association with self-harm. Only physical and sexual abuse had direct effects. Conclusions: The results specify the relationship between child maltreatment and self-harm by demonstrating that it is partly mediated by basic functions of personality assessed using a dimensional measure. These abilities constitute modifiable risk factors that can be addressed by psychotherapy.

Harvard Citation style: Ernst, M., Braehler, E., Kampling, H., Kruse, J., Plener, P., Beutel, M., et al. (2022) Is the end in the beginning? Child maltreatment increases the risk of non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempts through impaired personality functioning, Child Abuse & Neglect, 133, Article 105870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105870

APA Citation style: Ernst, M., Braehler, E., Kampling, H., Kruse, J., Plener, P., Beutel, M., & Fegert, J. (2022). Is the end in the beginning? Child maltreatment increases the risk of non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempts through impaired personality functioning. Child Abuse & Neglect. 133, Article 105870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105870