Direct and Indirect Links Between Peer Relationships, Father Involvement and Self-Harm Among Rural Chinese Adolescents

Objectives

Epidemiological surveys in rural China have reported comparatively high adolescent self-harm rates. Evidence on how peer relationships and father involvement jointly relate to this risk and on whether depression or anxiety helps to explain those links is more limited. This study investigated peer relationships and father involvement as two potential protective correlates of self-harm and assessed whether associations with self-harm were linked via depression and anxiety in a cross-sectional model.