Introduction It is not well known what kind of health problems is associated with the history of child abuse. The aim of this study was to observe the current situation of child abuse in Japan, and to confirm our hypothesis that history of child abuse is associated with self-injurious behaviour.

Methods Data from the Lifestyle and Attitude towards Sexual Behaviour Survey were used for the secondary analysis. Using the two-stage stratified random sampling method, 3000 people (aged 16–49) were selected throughout Japan. Visit custody investigation was conducted to collect each one's data, including general characteristics (gender, age, education, occupational status, marital status, tobacco use, and alcohol consumption), history of parents' divorce, history of child abuse, and self-injurious behaviour. The χ2-test and the logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the relationship between history of child abuse and self-injurious behaviour.

Results A total of 1540 participants (51%) were included in the analysis. Of these, 77 participants (5%) experienced child abuse. Also 108 participants (7%) had experience self-injurious behaviour at least once. Although 6% of the participants without the history of child abuse attempted self-injurious behaviour, 33% of the participants with the history did attempt self-injurious behaviour. History of child abuse was significantly associated with self-injurious behaviour in crude and adjusted model.

Conclusion We found that history of child abuse was associated with self-injurious behaviour. Public health workers and clinicians should pay attention to the future self-injurious behaviour in caring for child abuse.