Health risk behaviors: an investigation of sexual risk and non-suicidal self injury

Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-61)High prevalence rates of sexually risky behaviors (SRBs) and non-suicidal self injury (NSSI) among adolescents and young adults present a need for prevention and intervention efforts to minimize these health-risky behaviors. However, there is a lack of empirical research findings on the possible relationships among these behaviors outside of clinical samples. To contribute to the scarce literature in this area, the present study investigated the relationship between young women???s SRBs and NSSI, along with potential predicting psychosocial factors of these behaviors. The sample included female participants from the general population (recruited through social media, email lists, etc.) as well as from the CSUN Human Subject pool. A battery of self-report measures was administered through an online survey that included inventories to assess the variables of interest as well as demographic information. An original proposed model was analyzed through path analysis to test its goodness of fit. The findings supported some but not all of the hypotheses. The final model is strong and has several significant paths that have clinical salience. Recommendations for future research and implications are discussed