Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1446727
This article is part of the Research Topic Navigating the Storm: Addressing Mental and Behavioral Health Challenges in Disadvantaged Children, Adolescents and Young Adults (CAYA) View all articles

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Youth Students During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Psychological Factors in Jingzhou, China

Provisionally accepted
Lie Chou Lie Chou 1,2,3Ye Yu Ye Yu 1,2,4*Bo Liu Bo Liu 1,2,4*Li-Fang Zhou Li-Fang Zhou 1,2,4*Juan Sheng Juan Sheng 1,2,4*Xin-Feng Zhang Xin-Feng Zhang 5*Xiao-Peng Deng Xiao-Peng Deng 1,2,4*Mao-Sheng Ran Mao-Sheng Ran 3,6*
  • 1 Mental Health Institute of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
  • 2 Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
  • 3 Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 4 Other, Jingzhou, China
  • 5 Jingzhou Mental Health Center, Jingzhou, China
  • 6 Institute of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

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

    Objective: This study aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-suicidal selfinjury (NSSI) among youth students, and the mediating role of psychological factors in the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and NSSI.Method: An online survey was conducted at junior and senior high schools, as well as universities located in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, China between June 2021 and January 2022. The COVID-19 Impact Index was constructed using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) method. The bootstrapping method was used for mediation analysis.Results: A total of 16025 youth participated in the study and 12507 youth (78.1%) finished the questionnaires. The COVID-19 Impact Index had a significantly positive effect on NSSI (r=0.16, p<0.001). The mediation analysis results showed that the COVID-19 Impact Index had a significant indirect effect on youth' NSSI (β=0.0918, 95% CI [0.0788, 0.1048]), and this indirect effect was mainly achieved through affecting youth' anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The mediation effect of anxiety on NSSI was 0.0584, the direct effect was 0.0334, and the mediation proportion was 63.6%. The mediation effect of depression on NSSI was 0.0668, the direct effect was 0.0250, and the mediation proportion was 72.8%. The mediation effect of PTSD on NSSI was 0.0640, the direct effect was 0.0278, and the mediation proportion was 69.7%. All the mediation effects, direct effects and total effects were statistically significant (p<0.001).The higher the impact of the COVID-19 Impact Index, the higher the prevalence of NSSI among youth students. Anxiety, depression and PTSD had mediated the relationship between the COVID-19 Impact Index and NSSI. It is suggested that specific health policies, mental health services and interventions should be developed to reduce the NSSI and improve mental health status among youth students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Non-suicidal self-injury, Youth students, Mediation analysis, China

    Received: 10 Jun 2024; Accepted: 05 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chou, Yu, Liu, Zhou, Sheng, Zhang, Deng and Ran. 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:
    Ye Yu, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
    Bo Liu, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
    Li-Fang Zhou, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
    Juan Sheng, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
    Xin-Feng Zhang, Jingzhou Mental Health Center, Jingzhou, China
    Xiao-Peng Deng, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
    Mao-Sheng Ran, Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.