Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Skin Picking Disorder Symptoms Among Adults in an Arab Middle Eastern Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

		n	(%)
Nationality	Saudi	466	(89.6)
	Non Saudi	54	(10.4)
Sex	Male	233	(44.8)
	Female	287	(55.2)
Age in years	<=20	80	(15.4)
	21–30	261	(50.2)
	31–40	111	(21.3)
	>40	68	(13.1)
Education	Secondary	136	(26.2)
	Inter/bachelor	344	(66.2)
	High degree	40	(7.7)
Social status	Single/widow/divorced	278	(53.5)
	Married	242	(46.5)
Living status	Without family	30	(5.8)
	With family	490	(94.2)
Job	Student	181	(34.8)
	Employed	217	(41.7)
	Not employed	122	(23.5)
Monthly income	< 5K SR	248	(47.7)
	5K–10K SR	123	(23.7)
	11K–15K SR	61	(11.7)
	> 15K SR	88	(16.9)
Have you ever been diagnosed with depression?	Yes	34	(6.5)
	No	486	(93.5)
Have you ever been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder?	Yes	30	(5.8)
	No	490	(94.2)
Have you ever picked your skin anywhere in your body, resulting in a visible effect?	Yes	150	(28.8)
	No	370	(71.2)
Diagnosis	No skin picking disorder	514	(98.8)
	Skin picking disorder	6	(1.2)

Table 2 Distribution and Reliability of SPS-R and Its Sub-Scales

Items		0	1	2	3	4
Symptom severity (Cronbach’s α=0.82)
How often do you feel the urge to pick your skin?	n	387	85	33	9	6
	(%)	(74.4)	(16.3)	(6.3)	(1.7)	(1.2)
How intense is the urge to pick your skin?	n	386	114	0	14	6
	(%)	(74.2)	(21.9)	(0.0)	(2.7)	(1.2)
How much time do you spend picking your skin per day?	n	363	113	32	10	2
	(%)	(69.8)	(21.7)	(6.2)	(1.9)	(0.4)
How much control do you have over your skin picking?	n	388	64	39	20	9
	(%)	(74.6)	(12.3)	(7.5)	(3.8)	(1.7)
Impairment (Cronbach’s α=0.75)
How much emotional distress or feelings of low self-esteem do you experience from your skin picking?	n	448	37	25	7	3
	(%)	(86.2)	(7.1)	(4.8)	(1.3)	(0.6)
How much does your skin picking interfere with your social, work or performance?	n	449	48	17	3	3
	(%)	(86.3)	(9.2)	(3.3)	(0.6)	(0.6)
Have you been avoiding doing anything, going any place, or being with anyone because of your skin picking?	n	453	42	18	5	2
	(%)	(87.1)	(8.1)	(3.5)	(1.0)	(0.4)
How much damage do you currently have because of your skin picking?	n	382	119	14	4	1
	(%)	(73.5)	(22.9)	(2.7)	(0.8)	(0.2)

Note: Adapted from J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord, 1(2), Snorrason I, Olafsson RP, Flessner CA, et al. The skin picking scale-revised: factor structure and psychometric properties. 133–137, copyright (2012), with permission from Elsevier.¹⁶

Table 3 Measurement Model Summary Table for the PLS-PM Model

Indicator	Construct	Weight	Loading Symptom Severity	Loading Impairment	Communality	Redundancy
Q1	Symptom severity	0.30	0.83	0.55	0.68	0.32
Q2	Symptom severity	0.28	0.78	0.50	0.61	0.29
Q3	Symptom severity	0.36	0.87	0.64	0.75	0.35
Q4	Symptom severity	0.29	0.76	0.52	0.58	0.27
Q5	Impairment	0.29	0.48	0.79	0.62	0.00
Q6	Impairment	0.31	0.50	0.74	0.55	0.00
Q7	Impairment	0.33	0.54	0.80	0.64	0.00
Q8	Impairment	0.36	0.59	0.77	0.59	0.00

Note: The bolded items are the specified loadings for each indicator.

Figure 1 Node diagram for the measurement model of the PLS-PM model with loadings shown.

Table 4 Results for Linear Regression with Social Status, Depression Diagnosis, and Skin Picking

Variable	B	SE	CI	β	t	p
(Intercept)	1.65	0.25	[1.16, 2.14]	0.00	6.62	< 0.001
Social status (Married)	−0.74	0.32	[−1.36, −0.12]	−0.09	−2.33	0.020
Depression diagnosis (Yes)	2.32	0.63	[1.08, 3.56]	0.14	3.68	< 0.001
Skin picking visual effect (Yes)	3.77	0.35	[3.08, 4.45]	0.42	10.79	< 0.001

Notes: CI is at the 95% confidence level. Results: F(3516) = 52.17, p< 0.001, R2= 0.23.

Snorrason I, Olafsson RP, Flessner CA, et al. The skin picking scale-revised: factor structure and psychometric properties. J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord. 2012;1(2):133–137. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2012.03.001

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