A preliminary prediction model for self-harm in adolescent inpatients with mental disorders: integrating individual and family factors.

Self-harm is a major public health concern among adolescents, particularly those hospitalized with psychiatric disorders. Despite its clinical salience, risk stratification tools incorporating both individual-level and family-level factors remain limited. This study aimed to develop and preliminarily evaluate a prediction model for self-harm among adolescent inpatients with mental disorders.

This cross-sectional study included 123 adolescent inpatients (aged 12-17 years). Self-harm was defined as intentional self-injury or poisoning regardless of suicidal intent. Demographic, clinical, and familial variables were extracted from electronic medical records. Psychological assessments included the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Parent-child Relationship Scale, Parents' Perception of Uncertainty Scale (PPUS), parental Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and parental Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The dataset was split into a training set (80%, n = 98) and a test set (20%, n = 25). Logistic regression with backward stepwise selection was used to construct a nomogram, with model performance assessed by the area under the curve and decision curve analysis.

Four independent predictors of self-harm were identified: female sex (OR = 9.484, 95% CI: 2.736-32.868), higher CDI score (OR = 1.175 per 1-point increase, 95% CI: 1.058-1.305), higher parental PHQ-9 score (OR = 1.235 per 1-point increase, 95% CI: 1.064-1.433), and parental marital status (overall P = 0.001). The model showed good discrimination in the training set (AUC = 0.873) and acceptable performance in the testing set (AUC = 0.720). Decision curve analysis confirmed clinical utility across relevant threshold probabilities.

Female sex, higher depressive symptom severity, higher parental depressive symptoms, and parental marital status were associated with self-harm among hospitalized adolescents with mental disorders. The developed nomogram may serve as a preliminary screening aid for individualized risk stratification and may help clinicians identify patients requiring further assessment. External validation in larger, multicenter cohorts is needed before routine clinical use.
Mental Health
Care/Management

Authors

Wang Wang, Wang Wang, Shao Shao, Wu Wu, Yang Yang, Zhou Zhou
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