june 2014

Heavy episodic drinking and deliberate self-harm in young people: a longitudinal cohort study

AIM: To assess the association between heavy episodic drinking (HED) and deliberate self-harm (DSH) in young people in Norway.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: We analysed data on past-year HED and DSH from the second (1994) and third (1999) waves of the Young in Norway Longitudinal StudyIn a longitudinal study, researchers conduct several observations of the same participants over a pe... (cumulative response rate: 68.1%, n = 2647). Associations between HED and DSH were obtained as odds ratios and population-attributable fractions (PAF) applying fixed-effects modelling, which eliminates the effects of time-invariant confounders. FINDINGS: An increase in HED was associated with an increase in risk of DSH (OR = 1.64, P = 0.013), after controlling for time-varying confounders. The estimated PAF was 28% from fixed-effects modelling and 51% from conventional modelling.

CONCLUSION: Data on Norwegian youths show a statistically significant association between heavy episodic drinking and deliberate self-harm.

Additional Info

  • Authors

    Rossow I.; Norstrom T.
  • Issue

    Addiction / pages 930-936 / volume 109
  • Published Date

    june 2014