Pathways between early-life adversity and adolescent self-harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse are strongly associated with self-harm, but mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Inflammation has been linked to both the experience of ACEs and self-harm or suicide in prior research. This is the first study to examine whether inflammatory markers mediate the association between exposure to ACEs and self-harm.

Methods

Participants were 4,308 young people from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population-based birth cohort in the United Kingdom. A structural equation modelling approach was used to fit a mediation model with the number of ACEs experienced between ages 0 and 9 years old (yo), levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin-6 and C-r

SUBMITTER: Russell AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6771906 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature