Measuring the Incidence of Self-Injury: Some Methodological and Design Considerations

Self-injury behavior in a city of some 200,000 residents was measured in a study designed to employ a wider variety of sources of information than had previous studies. The study disclosed a much higher rate of self-injury than reported in earlier studies. Reasons for this high rate are discussed, and the authors contend that the “true” rate of self-injury is much higher even than that reported in their study.