Purpose Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is reasonably common, particularly among young people with prevalence rates of up to 25 per cent reported. Many factors contribute towards NSSI, including depression, anxiety and history of abuse and NSSI is a risk factor for suicide. Many people who engage in NSSI do not seek help, potentially due to concern about sigmatising attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of gender and disclosure on stigmatising attitudes towards individuals who engage in NSSI. Design/methodology/approach Participants were 384 first-year university students (77.4 per cent female; mean age 19.50 years (SD=3.53)) who completed measures of stigmatising attitudes in response to vignettes featuring individuals who engaged in self-harming behaviour. Vignettes varied in the gender of the individual as well as whether the NSSI was disclosed or not. Findings The results support the attribution model of public discrimination in relation to NSSI stigma. Perceptions of higher personal responsibility for NSSI behaviour and higher levels of danger and manipulation were positively associated with stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours. Male research participants reported significantly higher levels of stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours than females. Social implications The level of stigmatising attitudes towards individuals who engage in NSSI is significant and may impact on help-seeking behaviour. Originality/value Between 10 and 25 per cent of adolescents engage in some form of NSSI, but only a minority seek help to address this behaviour. This study suggests that attitudes by peers may influence help-seeking. Further research is required outside of tertiary education settings.

Objective: Cross-sectional research suggests that relationships between temperamental negative reactivity and adolescent depressive symptoms may be moderated by parental warmth. The primary purpose of this study was to conduct the first prospective analysis of this relationship. Method: Data from 1,147 families in an Australian population-based longitudinal study were used to examine: (1) temporal relationships between negative reactivity in early adolescence (13-14 years) and depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood (19-20 years); (2) the moderating role of parent-reported warmth in early adolescence (13-14 years); and (3) the moderating role of child gender. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to test the hypothesis that parental warmth would moderate the relationship between early adolescent negative reactivity and depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. Results: After accounting for previous depressive symptoms at age 13-14 years, negative reactivity was positively associated with later depressive symptoms. By contrast, parental warmth at 13-14 years was negatively associated with later depressive symptoms for females but not males. Parental warmth did not moderate the association between early adolescent negative reactivity and subsequent depressive symptoms. Conclusions: This study was the first to use prospective data to assess the protective effects of early adolescent parental warmth on the association between negative reactive temperaments and early adult depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that parental warmth for negatively reactive children provides only concurrent protection against subsequent depressive risk. This study did not examine parent-child transactional models, which may, in future longitudinal research, improve understanding of how trajectories of parent-child goodness-of-fit contribute to depressive symptoms.