Correlation Between Family Dysfunction and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in a Sample of Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Alexithymia and circRNA_103636.

Background: Adolescent group may be prone to a variety of behavioral disorders, one of which is nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), NSSI intervention is limited for its unknown mechanism, so this study aimed to explore the factors associated with and pathological mechanism underlying NSSI from the perspective of family dysfunction, alexithymia, circRNA_103636 in a sample of Chinese adolescents.

Methods: A total of 200 MDD adolescents with NSSI and 200 healthy controls were enrolled via a convenient sampling method in clinical settings. The Family APGAR Index (APGAR), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-injury Assessment Questionnaire (ANSSIAQ) were used for mental assessment of the study group and control group participants. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was utilized to detect circRNA_103636 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Results: There were significant between-group differences of 134 patients (67%) in the study group and 42 patients in the control group (21%) with moderate or severe family dysfunction (P<0.01). The APGAR score was lower, and the difficulty identifying feeling (DIF), difficulty describing feeling (DDF) and externally oriented thinking (EOT) scores of the TAS-20 and ΔCt value of circRNA_103636 were greater in the study group than in the control group. NSSI behavior and NSSI function were negatively correlated with the APGAR score and positively correlated with DIF, DDF, and the EOT of TAS-20 and the ΔCt value of circRNA_103636. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that EOT, circRNA_103636 expression, and APGAR were predictors of ANSSIAQ, which could explain 40.5% of the variance. Similarly, the alexithymia and circRNA_103636 expression mediated the correlation between family dysfunction and NSSI in the study group, and these mediating effects accounted for 27.25% and 23.33%, respectively, of the total effect. Taken together, family dysfunction, alexithymia, and circRNA_103636 expression have predictive effects on NSSI and alexithymia, circRNA_103636 expressions are mediators between family dysfunction and NSSI in Chinese adolescent.

Conclusion: Here, we established a new model for NSSI in which exposure to family dysfunction could induce pathological process by modulating personality traits and epigenetic regulators.