A preliminary study examining relationships between childhood maltreatment, dissociation, and self-injury in psychiatric outpatients.

This study aimed to examine the relationships between childhood maltreatment, dissociation, and self-injury. Unlike much previous research, this study included 5 different types of childhood maltreatment in addition to sexual and physical abuse, and it looked at parameters of maltreatment such as onset and duration. Participants (n = 58) were psychiatric outpatients. The different types of maltreatment co-occurred, with most participants suffering 4 or all 5 types. It was found that childhood maltreatment rather than dissociation predicted self-injury. Furthermore, physical abuse rather than the other kinds of childhood maltreatment was significantly related to self-injury.