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World J Psychiatry. Jul 19, 2026; 16(7): 117921
Published online Jul 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.117921
Published online Jul 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.117921
Network perspective on childhood trauma and non-suicidal self-injury behaviors and functions in adolescents with depressive disorders
Fang-Fang Zhang, Ming-Fang Ma, Li-Na Zhou, Rui Guo, Wei Yang, Xing-Li Liang, Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Rui Gao, Jing Wang, Faculty of Nursing, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang FF research and write a manuscript; Ma MF, Zhou LN, Gao R, Guo R, and Yang W contributed to conceiving the research and analyzing data; Liang XL contributed to project administration; Wang J designed and supervised the study, revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: We only use ChatGPT to polish and translate the manuscript in terms of language. The entire body of the manuscript (including the abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion and conclusion) was independently written by the authors, not generated by AI. No AI tools were involved in the research design, data interpretation or result explanation. All the images, charts or graphics in the manuscript were not generated by AI.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82301737; and the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province, No. 2024SF-YBXM-078.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (Approval No. XJTU1AF2023 LSK-132).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and their legal guardians.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset are available from the corresponding author.
Corresponding author: Jing Wang, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 76 Yanta West Road, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Received: December 18, 2025
Revised: January 19, 2026
Accepted: March 2, 2026
Published online: July 19, 2026
Processing time: 189 Days and 21.7 Hours
Revised: January 19, 2026
Accepted: March 2, 2026
Published online: July 19, 2026
Processing time: 189 Days and 21.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study used network analysis to reveal symptom-level associations between childhood trauma, non-suicidal self-injury behaviors, and functional motivations in adolescents with depressive disorders. Emotional abuse was identified as the most central trauma subtype and non-damaging self-injury as the most critical bridge node connecting childhood trauma with non-suicidal self-injury behavior-function system. The findings highlight specific trauma-behavior pathways and underscore the value of network-based models for identifying clinically meaningful intervention targets beyond traditional total-score approaches.