Adolescents with anorexia nervosa with or without non-suicidal self-injury: clinical and psychopathological features

Purpose: Anorexia nervosa (AN) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) share typical onset in adolescence, greater prevalence in females and similar risk factors. Nevertheless, clinical features of eating disorders (ED) in this population are still under-investigated, especially associated to psychological features. Methods: The present study aims at comparing clinical and ED characteristics and psychopathological traits in a sample of 253 female adolescents with AN with or without NSSI and to determine possible clinical and psychological predictors on the presence of NSSI. The two groups were compared through multivariate analyses, while correlation and regression analyses were conducted to determine possible associations and predictors. Results: AN + NSSI group showed higher prevalence of binging–purging-type AN (p <.001), and mean higher age (p =.008) and Body Mass Index (BMI) (p =.002) than AN without NSSI group. Concerning psychological scales, AN + NSSI group showed higher scores in mostly of the sub-scale of the test Eating Disorders Inventory-3, higher scores at the scale for depression (p < 0.001) and higher scores at the three indexes of Symptom Checklist 90-Revised test, Global Severity Index (p < 0.001), Positive Symptoms total (p =.003) and Positive Symptom Distress Index (p < 0.001). No differences emerged at Children’s Global Assessment Scale and at scale for evaluation of alexithymia. Regression analyses showed that a diagnosis of binging–purging-type AN (p =.001) predicts NSSI. Conclusion: Results suggest that adolescents with AN and NSSI show peculiar clinical features with higher prevalence of binging–purging-type AN and more severe psychopathological traits than adolescents with AN without NSSI. Level of evidence: Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case–control analytic studies.