Deliberate self-harm among pediatric psychiatric inpatients in China: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: For children and adolescents, deliberate self-harm (DSH) is becoming a mental health problem of concern. Despite several studies on the prevalence and factor of DSH in world, there is little information of DSH about children and adolescents in China. This study explores the prevalence, types, associated risk factors and tendency of DSH in pediatric psychiatric inpatients in China. Method: In this study, we retrospectively studied 1414 hospitalized children and adolescents with mental illness at Xiamen Mental Health Center from 2014 to 2019, extracted the demographic and clinical data of all patients, and analyzed clinical risk factors of DSH. Results: A total of 239 (16.90%) patients engaged in at least one type of DSH in our study. Cutting (n=115, 48.12%) was the most common type of DSH. Females (n=171, 71.55%) were more likely to engage in DSH than males (n=68, 28.45%). DSH was positively associated with depressive disorders (OR=3.845 (2.196~6.732); p<0.01), female (OR=2.536 (1.815~3.542); p<0.01), parental marital status (OR=5.387 (2.254~12.875); p<0.01) and negative family history of psychiatric illness(OR=7.767 (2.952~20.433); p<0.01), but not with occupation, bad behaviorand history of physical abuse. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that for patients with depression, female, abnormal marriage of parents, and no history of mental illness, attention should be paid to the occurrence of DSH.