<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><sec><h3>Background:</h3><p>Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is a growing issue among Danish adolescents, and a dramatic increase in the incidence of DSH has been observed since the turn of the millennium. The importance of early childhood factors on later development has been established, but research on the trajectories of DSH is still scarce, and longitudinal studies are much needed.</p></sec><sec><h3>Method:</h3><p>Participants were 3,291 children and their mothers from The Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children (DALSC), a Danish population-based birth cohort from 1995. Logistic regression and mediation analyses were used to examine significant early childhood determinants of self-harming behavior in adolescence.</p></sec><sec><h3>Results:</h3><p>The study found that 17.9% of the children had a history with DSH at the age of 18 years. A significant relationship was found between the likelihood of DSH at the age of 18 years and hyperactivity difficulties assessed through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at 3 and 7 years of age. Using a mediation model, it is documented that difficulties in peer relationships at the age of 11 years is a partial mediator explaining 19% of the variation.</p></sec><sec><h3>Limitations:</h3><p>i) a vague definition of self-harm in the questionnaires; ii) lack of sample representation as children of lower socio-economic groups have lower participation rates, and only Danish-ethnicity children have been sampled; iii) possibility of omitted variable bias.</p></sec><sec><h3>Conclusion:</h3><p>The adolescents engaging in DSH are experiencing a more complex range of psychosocial problems than those who do not have experience with DSH. The main finding of the study is that hyperactivity as a risk factor for the development of DSH in adolescence can be identified as early as 3–7 years of age. This relationship between the very early occurring hyperactivity and later DSH, to the best of our knowledge, has not previously been described.</p></sec></abstract>

Background:Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is a growing issue among Danish adolescents, and a dramatic increase in the incidence of DSH has been observed since the turn of the millennium. The importance of early childhood factors on later development has been established, but research on the trajectories of DSH is still scarce, and longitudinal studies are much needed.Method:Participants were 3,291 children and their mothers from The Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children (DALSC), a Danish population-based birth cohort from 1995. Logistic regression and mediation analyses were used to examine significant early childhood determinants of self-harming behavior in adolescence.Results:The study found that 17.9% of the children had a history with DSH at the age of 18 years. A significant relationship was found between the likelihood of DSH at the age of 18 years and hyperactivity difficulties assessed through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at 3 and 7 years of age. Using a mediation model, it is documented that difficulties in peer relationships at the age of 11 years is a partial mediator explaining 19% of the variation.Limitations:i) a vague definition of self-harm in the questionnaires; ii) lack of sample representation as children of lower socio-economic groups have lower participation rates, and only Danish-ethnicity children have been sampled; iii) possibility of omitted variable bias.Conclusion:The adolescents engaging in DSH are experiencing a more complex range of psychosocial problems than those who do not have experience with DSH. The main finding of the study is that hyperactivity as a risk factor for the development of DSH in adolescence can be identified as early as 3–7 years of age. This relationship between the very early occurring hyperactivity and later DSH, to the best of our knowledge, has not previously been described.

Before the damage is done: Early childhood hyperactivity difficulties in adolescents with deliberate self-harm – findings from the DALSC cohort

Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Background:Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is a growing issue among Danish adolescents, and a dramatic increase in the incidence of DSH has been observed since the...

	DSH (n=649 )		No DSH (n=2978 )		p-value
Variable	n	mean	n	mean
Female	468	72,1%	1304	43.8%	<.0001
Suicide attempted (age 18)	125	19,5%	19	0.6%	<.0001
Mental disorder or psychotropic drugs (age 0–18)	299	47,1%	395	13.5%	<.0001

	Analysis of maximum likelihood estimates
Parameter		Estimate	Standard Error	Wald Chi-Square	Pr > ChiSq
intercept		-1.9419	0.0954	414.0452	<.0001
female	0	-0.6679	0.0543	151.4615	<.0001
Hyperactivity difficulties, 3 years		0.0685	0.0325	4.4403	0.0351
Hyperactivity difficulties, 7 years		0.0841	0.0224	14.1493	0.0002
Peer difficulties, 7 years		0.0839	0.0388	4.6803	0.0305
Parents divorced	0	-0.2348	0.0593	15.6575	<.0001
Maternal smoking	0	-0.2211	0.0503	19.3254	<.0001
Maternal mental health, 3-7 years		0.1205	0.0462	6.7893	0.0092

	n	Pct. of sample (n=3627)	Pct. of reported	DSH Pct. of ADHD diagnosed	Pct. of ADHD symptoms
DSH, total	649	17.9%	100%	34.9%	28.8%
ADHD diagnosed	95	2.5%	4.6%	100%	6.3%
ADHD symptoms	1037	27.7%	43.5%	68.4%	100%

Before the damage is done: Early childhood hyperactivity difficulties in adolescents with deliberate self-harm – findings from the DALSC cohort

Online veröffentlicht: 04. Jan. 2021

Seitenbereich: 176 - 188

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2020-018

Schlüsselwörter
Deliberate Self-Harm, adolescents, hyperactivity, inattention, peer difficulties, cohort, mediation analysis

© 2020 Therese A. Evald et al., published by Sciendo.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3.

Comparing means by t-tests

Logistic regression of the specified model

DSH and ADHD

Before the damage is done: Early childhood hyperactivity difficulties in adolescents with deliberate self-harm – findings from the DALSC cohort

Online veröffentlicht: 04. Jan. 2021

Seitenbereich: 176 - 188

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2020-018

SchlüsselwörterDeliberate Self-Harm, adolescents, hyperactivity, inattention, peer difficulties, cohort, mediation analysis

© 2020 Therese A. Evald et al., published by Sciendo.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3.

Comparing means by t-tests

Logistic regression of the specified model

DSH and ADHD

Schlüsselwörter
Deliberate Self-Harm, adolescents, hyperactivity, inattention, peer difficulties, cohort, mediation analysis