Relationship between non-suicidal self-injury and childhood sexual abuse: a meta-analysis

Objective To systematically review the relationship between non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA),and to provide basis for the prevention of NSSI.Methods PubMed,Embase,CNKI and WanFang Data was used to search papers published before July 31,2016 regarding the relationship between NSSI and CSA.The retrieual words were NSSI,Self-mutilation,self-injury,self-harm,non-suicidal self-injury,self-injurious behavior,self-destructive behavior,self-damaging behavior,self-harm behaivor,self-harming behavior,self-mutitative behaivor,deliberate self-harm,sexual abuse,sex abuse,ect.Two researchers reviewed literature,extracted data and evaluated bias of included studies independently.Statistical analysis was conducted in Stata 14.0.Results A total of 37 cross-sectional studies involving 49 221 participants were included for detailed evaluation.Meta-analysis suggested that CSA survivors increased the occurrence of NSSI(OR=3.95,95%CI=3.30-4.74).Additionally,males CSA survivors were more likely to conduct NSSI compared with females (OR=4.28,95%CI=2.78-6.59).CSA survivors from community sample,Asian,without mental disorders have the highest risk of NSSI engagement (OR=4.45,95%CI=2.86-6.94);Asian(OR=5.31,95%CI=3.20-8.79);no mental disorder(OR=4.60,95%CI=3.38-6.26).Conclusions Individuals with childhood sexual abuse experiences have a higher risk of NSSI,association differs in gender,area and sample sources.