Objective@#To explore the relationships between the characteristics of childhood
sexual abuse and non-suicidal
self-injury in
nursing female college
students.@*
Methods@#Two medical colleges and junior colleges were selected in Anhui province. A total of 2 549
female nursing students in grade 1 to 3 were asked to fill a
questionnaire regarding sociodemographic information,childhood
sexual abuse and non-suicidal
self-injury.@*Results@#The reported rate of non-suicidal
self-injury among
female nursing students in the past six months was 8.2%.
Sexual abuse at any
time during childhood (
primary school or earlier,middle
school and
high school) increased the
risk of non-suicidal
self-injury among
female nursing students (P<0.05). Exposure to
sexual abuse in all three periods was associated with 5.04(95%CI=1.73-14.62) times
odds ratio than that of those
who not exposed to
sexual abuse (P<0.01). Only contact
sexual abuse and both contact and non-contact
sexual abuse in childhood were correlated with nonsuicidal
self
injury among
female nursing students [OR(95%CI)=2.21(1.48-3.29), 3.56(2.13-5.96)] (P<0.05). Two patterns of
sexual abuse experiences were identified,including persistent
sexual abuse (3.1%) and the other group is occasional sexual (96.9%). Persistent
sexual abuse in childhood was correlated to higher
risk of non-suicidal
self-injury compared with occasional
sexual abuse (OR=2.61,95%CI=1.35-5.05,P<0.01).@*Conclusion@#The occurrence periods,types and patterns of
sexual abuse in childhood are closely related to non-suicidal
self-injury in
female nursing students.