E David Klonsky1, Anne Moyer. 1. Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2500, USA. E.David.Klonsky@stonybrook.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many theorists posit that childhood sexual abuse has a central role in the aetiology of self-injurious behaviour. Studies that report statistically significant associations between a history of such abuse and self-injury are cited to support this view. AIMS: A meta-analysis was conducted to determine systematically the magnitude of the association between childhood sexual abuse and self-injurious behaviour. METHOD: Forty-five analyses of the association were identified. Effect sizes were converted to a standard metric and aggregated. RESULTS: The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and self-injurious behaviour is relatively small (mean weighted aggregate phi=0.23). This figure may be inflated owing to publication bias. In studies that statistically controlled for psychiatric risk factors, childhood sexual abuse explained little or no unique variance in self-injurious behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: Theories that childhood sexual abuse has a central or causal role in the development of self-injurious behaviour are not supported by the available empirical evidence. Instead, it appears that the two are modestly related because they are correlated with the same psychiatric risk factors.
BACKGROUND: Many theorists posit that childhood sexual abuse has a central role in the aetiology of self-injurious behaviour. Studies that report statistically significant associations between a history of such abuse and self-injury are cited to support this view. AIMS: A meta-analysis was conducted to determine systematically the magnitude of the association between childhood sexual abuse and self-injurious behaviour. METHOD: Forty-five analyses of the association were identified. Effect sizes were converted to a standard metric and aggregated. RESULTS: The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and self-injurious behaviour is relatively small (mean weighted aggregate phi=0.23). This figure may be inflated owing to publication bias. In studies that statistically controlled for psychiatric risk factors, childhood sexual abuse explained little or no unique variance in self-injurious behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: Theories that childhood sexual abuse has a central or causal role in the development of self-injurious behaviour are not supported by the available empirical evidence. Instead, it appears that the two are modestly related because they are correlated with the same psychiatric risk factors.
Authors: Karen E Seymour; Richard N Jones; Grace K Cushman; Thania Galvan; Megan E Puzia; Kerri L Kim; Anthony Spirito; Daniel P Dickstein Journal: Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry Date: 2015-06-06 Impact factor: 4.785