TY - JOUR

T1 - Body Satisfaction, Eating Disorders and Suicide Ideation in an Internet Sample of Self-harmers Reporting and Not Reporting Childhood Sexual Abuse.

AU - Murray, Craig

AU - MacDonald, Sophie

AU - Fox, Jezz

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Psychology, Health and Medicine, 13 (1), 2008, © Informa Plc

PY - 2008/1

Y1 - 2008/1

N2 - Background: This study examined differences between self-harmers who had and who had not been sexually abused in childhood with regards to other risk factors and associated behaviours commonly identified in the research literature as being related to self-harm. Methods: Participants (N=113, Mean age=19.92 years) were recruited via self-harm internet discussion groups and message boards, and completed a web questionnaire assessing measures of body satisfaction, eating disorders, childhood trauma, and suicide ideation. Results: Self-harmers who reported a history of childhood sexual abuse scored higher on measures of body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, suicide ideation, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Conclusions: These findings implicate sexual abuse as a powerful traumatic event that can have severe repercussions on an individual, not only in terms of self-harming behaviour but also in terms of developing a wide range of maladaptive behaviours in conjunction with self-harm.

AB - Background: This study examined differences between self-harmers who had and who had not been sexually abused in childhood with regards to other risk factors and associated behaviours commonly identified in the research literature as being related to self-harm. Methods: Participants (N=113, Mean age=19.92 years) were recruited via self-harm internet discussion groups and message boards, and completed a web questionnaire assessing measures of body satisfaction, eating disorders, childhood trauma, and suicide ideation. Results: Self-harmers who reported a history of childhood sexual abuse scored higher on measures of body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, suicide ideation, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Conclusions: These findings implicate sexual abuse as a powerful traumatic event that can have severe repercussions on an individual, not only in terms of self-harming behaviour but also in terms of developing a wide range of maladaptive behaviours in conjunction with self-harm.

U2 - 10.1080/13548500701235757

DO - 10.1080/13548500701235757

M3 - Journal article

VL - 13

SP - 29

EP - 42

JO - Psychology, Health and Medicine

JF - Psychology, Health and Medicine

SN - 1354-8506

IS - 1

ER -