Relationship between sleep problems and non-suicidal self-injury behavior among college students / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore the relationship between sleep problems and non-suicidal self-injury behavior in Chinese college students, and to provide scientific basis for the prevention and intervention of non-suicidal self-injury behavior.@*Methods@#A cross-sectional survey of 11 689 college students from three universities in Guangzhou were selected as the research subjects. A questionnaire survey of college students’ mental health was conducted to investigate non-suicidal self-injury behavior, sleep problems, demographic information, lifestyle, and depressive symptoms.@*Results@#In the past year, the prevalence rates of non-suicidal self-injury in college students was 7.8%. Univariate Logistic analysis showed that all sleep problems were associated with non-suicidal self-injury behavior(P<0.05). After controlling for potential confounders,including grade,gender,parents’ education level,health conditon,family income,smoking,drinking and depression,multivariate Logistic regression showed that shorter sleep time at weekend (<7 h/d), insomnia symptoms and frequent nightmares significantly increased the risk of nonsuicidal selfinjury behavior in college students (OR=1.32-3.25, P<0.05), while longer sleep time at weekdays (≥9 h/d) was an important protective factor (OR=0.60, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#These findings indicate that short sleep time, insomnia and nightmares are important risk factors for college students’ non-suicidal self-injury behavior. Intervention and management on sleep problems can effectively reduce the occurrence of self-injury behaviors.