Risk Factors for and Functions of Deliberate Self‐Harm: An Empirical and Conceptual Review

TLDR: The authors reviewed empirical and theoretical literature on the following potential risk factors for self-harm: childhood sexual and physical abuse, neglect, childhood separation and loss, security of attachment to caregivers, and emotional reactivity and intensity.

Abstract: Given the clinical importance of deliberate self-harm and the need for further research informing the treatment and prevention of this behavior, a review of the extant literature on the risk factors for and functions of self-harm is needed. In this article, I review empirical and theoretical literature on the following potential risk factors for self-harm: childhood sexual and physical abuse, neglect, childhood separation and loss, security of attachment to caregivers, and emotional reactivity and intensity. Literature on the emotion regulating function of self-harm behavior is also reviewed. Future research is needed on the interaction of individual and environmental risk factors in the development of self-harm, as well as on the experi-entially avoidant function of this behavior.