A review of the scope of non-suicidal self-injury behavior in adolescents with depressive disorders: an analysis of related influencing factors.

Abstract

Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior is one of the major causes of death and disability in adolescents with depressive disorders, and this behavior has a high detection rate among adolescents globally, which seriously affects their physical and mental health and quality of life. Given the high prevalence and severity of NSSI behavior, this study provides a reference for the future construction of a risk-grading-based preventive intervention framework for NSSI in adolescents with depressive disorders by systematically sorting out the factors affecting non-suicidal self-injury.

Methods: This study adopted Arksey and O'Malley's methodology and the scoping review framework. The search took place from the creation of the database until November 12, 2024, in professional guideline websites like NICE and GIN and databases like China Knowledge, Wanfang, CINAHL, PubMed, and Web of Science. The topics searched for were adolescent depressive disorder, NSSI and behavioral influencing factors in relevant Chinese and English literature. We identified the research questions, completed the literature screening and quality assessment, extracted the data, summarized it, and analyzed it.

Results: The study included a total of 15 papers, comprising 1 guideline, 3 systematic evaluations, 1 Literature review, and 10 cross-sectional studies. Study topics focused on four categories: individual characteristics and psychological factors (e.g., gender, age, sexual orientation), illness and treatment factors (duration of illness, degree of depression), behaviors and lifestyles (Internet addiction, stressful events), and family and social environment (family functioning, social support).

Conclusion: Factors affecting NSSI behaviors in adolescent patients with depression are intricate and complex, covering multiple dimensions such as personal traits, family environment. The findings of this review emphasize that when conducting NSSI risk assessment for depressed adolescents in clinical practice, in addition to the depressive symptoms themselves, it is also necessary to systematically evaluate those individual psychological traits, behavioral patterns, and environmental factors. We should integrate relevant risk factors to create personalized prevention plans. We aim to decrease the frequency of NSSI behaviors in teenage patients suffering from depressive disorders and halt the progression of additional suicidal actions. Future research can focus on verifying the role of these risk factors in the predictive model and the effectiveness of intervention measures.