Non-suicidal self-injury and emotional burden among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional online survey

[摘要] Owing to restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased stress is evident in university students with a lifetime history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Therefore, we examined two groups of university students (n = 174) in an online survey, one that exhibited early NSSI in adolescence (n = 51) and another that exhibited continuous NSSI beyond the age of 18 (n = 123) (German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00023731). We compared the two groups in terms of depressive symptoms in the previous 2 weeks as well as self-perceived changes in emotional burden, urge to self-injure and NSSI frequency in the first year of the pandemic compared with the year before (pre-pandemic). Among other findings, both groups showed an increase in emotional burden and urge to self-injure.

[学科分类] 计算机科学（综合）

[关键词] COVID-19;non-suicidal self-injury;self-harm;university students;childhood and adolescence