Non-suicidal self-injuries and suicide risk in adolescent girls with eating disorders: associations with weight control, body mass index, and interpersonal sensitivity.

backgroundEating disorders (EDs) are associated with a risk of premature death, as well as suicidal and self-injurious behavior. A low or high body mass index (BMI) and weight control behavior can also have an impact on self-injurious and suicidal behavior. While some studies show that interpersonal sensitivity is a risk factor for EDs, affective disorders, and self-injurious behavior, in-depth studies of these issues have not been done.

aimThe present study investigates how self-injurious and suicidal behavior relate to weight control behavior, BMI, and interpersonal sensitivity in adolescent girls from a clinical population with diagnosed EDs compared with adolescent girls from the general population.

methodsThe main group was comprised of 31 girls with a diagnosis of ED (as the main diagnosis or co-occurring with affective disorders, M=151.13 years), being treated in in the Eating Disorder Clinic of the Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health of Children and Adolescents named after G.E. Sukhareva. The comparison group consisted of 27 adolescent girls recruited from Proton Educational Center (M=15.511.09 years). The measures included a qualitative survey that yielded data on weight control behavior, and self-injurious behavior, a Blitz questionnaire probing the suicide risk (used only in the main group), and the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure. Height and weight data were also recorded for BMI calculation.

resultsThe qualitative analysis of weight control behavior yielded the following results: purging behavior, restrictive behavior, and corrective behavior. Participants in the main group used purging and restrictive behavior more often, whereas participants in the comparison group used strategies associated with a healthy lifestyle. The main group and participants who practiced purging and restrictive weight control in the overall sample had the smallest BMI. Self-injurious behavior was approximately evenly distributed both amongst the main and comparison groups. Self-cutting was the most prevalent type of self-injury. In the main group, self-injury was associated with a smaller BMI, while in the comparison group it was associated with an increase in the fear of rejection and overall interpersonal sensitivity. Based on the assessment of the suicide risk, six participants in the main group were deemed high-risk; they also displayed increased fear of rejection, dependence on the assessments of others, and overall interpersonal sensitivity. All girls in the suicide risk subgroup had non-suicidal self-injuries.

conclusionThe results of our study broaden our understanding of the risk factors of suicidal and self-injurious behavior in adolescent girls with EDs and reveal the characteristics of the type of weight control behavior used by this group in comparison with adolescent girls in the general population. Girls with EDs who were considered at the risk of committing suicide demonstrated high interpersonal sensitivity, which provides a rationale for further studying the general interpersonal mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of EDs, as well as that of self-injurious and suicidal behavior.