Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Psychiatry, Non-suicidal self-injury, Eating disorders, Childhood abuse, Trauma, Body dissatisfaction, Dissociation, CHILDHOOD SEXUAL-ABUSE, SUICIDAL IDEATION, BULIMIA-NERVOSA, RISK-FACTORS, BODY-IMAGE, BEHAVIOR, DISSOCIATION, EXPERIENCES, PREVALENCE, WOMEN, Adolescent, Adult, Body Image, Child Abuse, Dissociative Disorders, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Female, Humans, Models, Statistical, Psychopathology, Self Concept, Self-Injurious Behavior, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult, 11 Medical and Health Sciences, 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, 3202 Clinical sciences, 5203 Clinical and health psychology

Abstract:

A theoretical model explaining the high co-occurrence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in eating disordered populations as resulting from childhood traumatic experiences, low self-esteem, psychopathology, dissociation, and body dissatisfaction was previously proposed but not empirically tested. The current study empirically evaluated the fit of this proposed model within a sample of 422 young adult females (mean age=21.60; S.D.=6.27) consecutively admitted to an inpatient treatment unit for eating disorders. Participants completed a packet of questionnaires within a week of admission. Structural equation modeling procedures showed the model provided a good fit to the data, accounting for 15% of the variance in NSSI. Childhood trauma appears to have an indirect relationship to NSSI that is likely to be expressed via relationships to low self-esteem, psychopathology, body dissatisfaction, and dissociation. It appears that dissociation and body dissatisfaction may be particularly salient factors to consider in both understanding and treating NSSI within an eating disordered population.