The influence of maternal attachment and alexithymia on risk of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the influence of maternal attachment and alexithymia on risk of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents.Methods:Fifty-seven outpatients and inpatients from Anhui Mental Health Center with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and their mothers were involved as the case group, and fifty-three age-, gender-, and education-matched adolescents and their mothers as the normal controls.They were assessed with the experience in close relationship inventory(ECR), the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and the adolescents self-harm scale.SPSS 22.0 software was used for correlation analysis and Logistic regression analysis.Results:There were significant differences in attachment avoidance ((3.7±0.6), (3.0±0.6)), attachment anxiety ((4.0±0.7), (3.1±0.9)), difficulty identifying feelings ((2.9±0.7), (2.3±0.7)), difficulty describing feelings((3.0±0.6), (2.4±0.5)) and alexithymia ((57.2±8.3), (49.5±9.5))between the two mother groups ( t=6.53, 5.79, 4.01, 5.50, 4.56, all P<0.05). NSSI of adolescents was positively correlated with the scores of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, alexithymia, difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings( r=0.487, 0.532, 0.401, 0.360, 0.468, all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that unsafe maternal attachment( B=2.57, OR=3.07, 95% CI=1.01-169.54, P=0.024)and the higher alexithymia level( B=1.95, OR=2.14, 95% CI=1.29-3.58, P=0.003)could lead to higher risk of NSSI in adolescents. Conclusion:Unsafe maternal attachment and the higher alexithymia level may be the risk factors for adolescents with NSSI.