The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 192: 166-170. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.106.030650
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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REVIEW ARTICLE

Childhood sexual abuse and non-suicidal self-injury: meta-analysis

E. David Klonsky, PhD and Anne Moyer, PhD

Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

Correspondence: Dr E. David Klonsky, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2500, USA. Tel: +1 631 632 7801; fax: +1 631 632 7876; email: E.David.Klonsky{at}stonybrook.edu

Declaration of interest

None.

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 {varphi}=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.


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