Carving has been described by several authors as being a suicidal gesture. In this study of 136 adolescent females in a residental training centre, 117 had carved at least once. Girls who did not carve were not as popular as those who did. Those who carved only once were closer to the MMPI means than non- or multiple-carvers. Multiple carvers were more often absent without permission. Control of self-carving is described in terms of behaviour modification. (38 refs.) (RM)