Lim, KX;
Krebs, G;
Rimfeld, K;
Pingault, J-B;
Rijsdijk, FV;
(2021)
Investigating the genetic and environmental aetiologies of non-suicidal and suicidal self-harm: a twin study.
Psychological Medicine
10.1017/S0033291721000040.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Self-harm is a major health concern, not only as a signal of distress but also as a strong predictor of later suicide. Self-harm can be further refined into suicidal self-harm (SSH, i.e. suicide attempt) and non-suicidal self-harm (NSSH). Understanding the aetiologies of NSSH and SSH can help inform suicide prevention strategies. Using a twin design, we investigated the phenotypic and aetiological relationships between NSSH and SSH, and their aetiological overlap with mental health problems. METHODS: We analysed data from the Twins Early Development Study using structural equation modelling. At age 21 years, 9063 twins (62.4% female) answered questions related to self-harm. At age 16 years, 19 self- or parent-reported mental health measures were administered, including measures of internalising and externalising problems, psychotic-like experiences and substance abuse. RESULTS: Prevalences for NSSH and SSH were 21.9% and 10.5%, respectively. Additive genetic factors explained half of the variance in NSSH (55%) and SSH (50%), with the rest explained by non-shared environmental factors. Phenotypically, NSSH and SSH were strongly correlated (r = 0.87) with their correlation explained by genetic (57%) and non-shared environmental (43%) factors. We found no evidence that NSSH and SSH differed in their phenotypic and aetiological relationships with mental health measures. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest no aetiological difference between NSSH and SSH. NSSH and SSH should be regarded as two different ends of a continuum, rather than as two distinct categories.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Investigating the genetic and environmental aetiologies of non-suicidal and suicidal self-harm: a twin study |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S0033291721000040 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721000040 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Self-harm, genetics, non-suicidal self-harm, suicidal self-harm, suicide attempts, twin design |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10122097 |
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