Citation

Murray CD, MacDonald S, Fox J. Psychol. Health Med. 2008; 13(1): 29-42.

Affiliation

School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13548500701235757

PMID

18066917

Abstract

This study examined differences between self-harmers who had and who had not been sexually abused in childhood with regards to other risk factors and associated behaviours commonly identified in the research literature as being related to self-harm. Participants (N = 113, mean age = 19.92 years) were recruited via self-harm Internet discussion groups and message boards, and completed a web questionnaire assessing measures of body satisfaction, eating disorders, childhood trauma and suicide ideation. Self-harmers who reported a history of childhood sexual abuse scored higher on measures of body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, suicide ideation, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect. These findings implicate sexual abuse as a powerful traumatic event that can have severe repercussions on an individual, not only in terms of self-harming behaviour but also in terms of developing a wide range of maladaptive behaviours in conjunction with self-harm.

Language: en