The study set out to compare a group of 25 adolescents admitted to the hospital following an act of self-injury with a group of 45 teenagers seen in routine child psychiatry clinics. Although the 2 group were similar in many several respects, the self-injuring group included a preponderance of females; and these adolescents were more likely to have known someone else who had made an attempt at self-injury & to have parents who consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. (14 refs)