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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1425411
This article is part of the Research Topic Youth Mental Health, Particularly in Asian Populations View all 16 articles

Non-suicidal self-injury and its risk factors among Iranian high school and university students

Provisionally accepted
Abbas Abbasi Abbas Abbasi 1Behnam Khodadoust Behnam Khodadoust 2Davoud Adham Davoud Adham 1Ali Gholami Ali Gholami 3Roya Farrokhi Roya Farrokhi 4Vahid Maghsodlou-Nejad Vahid Maghsodlou-Nejad 5Sima Afrashteh Sima Afrashteh 6*
  • 1 Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Ardabil, Iran
  • 2 Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 3 Neyshabur University of Medical Science, Neyshabur, Iran
  • 4 Medical University of Ilam, Ilam, Ilam, Iran
  • 5 Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahrood, Semnan, Iran
  • 6 Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is an important health problem among adolescents and young adults. The aims of this study were to determine NNSI status and its associated factors among students.This cross-sectional study has been conducted in 5100 4715 high school and university students from the West and Northwest provinces of Iran. Multi-stage sampling was used to select students and all students completed survey questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using chi-square, Fisher's exact test, binary and logistic regression.The lifetime prevalence of NSSI was estimated as 24.4% among all participants (21.4% in high school students vs. 29.3% in university students). After adjustment for other factors, age (OR=1.08,95%CI:1.03-1.12), cigarette smoking as an experimenter (OR=1.94,95%CI:1.61-2.34) and regular (OR=3.80,95%CI:2.96-4.89) compared to nonsmokers, membership in a sport team (OR = 1.26,95%CI:1.08-1.48), having physical fight (OR = 2.18,95%CI:1.85-2.57), doing general risk taking behavior (OR = 2.05,95%CI:1.66-2.53), and self-esteem (OR=0.93,95%CI:0.92-0.95) were associated with experience of NSSI.Our results suggested that the prevalence of NSSI was relatively high among high school and university students. To diagnose, prevent, and treat NSSI in teenagers and young adults in Iran, more research is needed to identify the root causes.Specific programs including some educational workshops about NSSI and other risk taking behaviors for students and their parents could be effective in enhancing student's knowledge toward these behaviors and possible reduction in NSSI prevalence.

    Keywords: Non-suicidal self-injury, High school students, university students, Prevalenc, Iran

    Received: 02 May 2024; Accepted: 19 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Abbasi, Khodadoust, Adham, Gholami, Farrokhi, Maghsodlou-Nejad and Afrashteh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sima Afrashteh, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

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