Citation

Dougherty DM, Mathias CW, Marsh-Richard DM, Prevette KN, Dawes MA, Hatzis ES, Palmes G, Nouvion SO. Psychiatry Res. 2009; 169(1): 22-27.

Affiliation

Neurobehavioral Research Laboratory and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2008.06.011

PMID

19631392

PMCID

PMC3062197

Abstract

This study examined clinical characteristics and laboratory-measured impulsive behavior of adolescents engaging in either non-suicidal self-injury with (NSSI+SA; n=25) or without (NSSI-Only; n=31) suicide attempts. We hypothesized that adolescent with NSSI+SI would exhibit more severe clinical symptoms and higher levels of behavioral impulsivity compared to adolescents with NSSI-Only. Adolescents were recruited from an inpatient psychiatric hospital unit and the two groups were compared on demographic characteristics, psychopathology, self-reported clinical ratings, methods of non-suicidal self-injury, and two laboratory impulsivity measures. Primary evaluations were conducted during psychiatric hospitalization, and a subset of those tested during hospitalization was retested 4-6 weeks after discharge. During hospitalization, NSSI+SA patients reported worse depression, hopelessness, and impulsivity on standard clinical measures, and demonstrated elevated impulsivity on a reward-directed laboratory measure compared to NSSI-Only patients. In the follow-up analyses, depression, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, and laboratory impulsivity were improved for both groups, but the NSSI+SA group still exhibited significantly more depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and impulsivity than the NSSI-Only group. Risk assessments for adolescents with NSSI+SA should include consideration not only of the severity of clinical symptoms but of the current level impulsivity as well.

Language: en