Poor family functioning mediates the link between childhood adversity and adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury
Cassels M, van Harmelan AL, Goodyer I, et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatr. Published online January 2018. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12866
Why are families such an important part of the treatment of young people who self-harm? This study shows that children who experience early childhood adversity before the age of 5 years are more likely to engage in self-harm during adolescence if they experience poor family functioning at 14 years of age.