Reasons for Deliberate Self-Harm: Comparison of Self-Poisoners and Self-Cutters in a Community Sample of Adolescents

This study compared the motives & premeditation between adolescent deliberate self-poisoners & self-cutters. Results of a self-report questionnaire from 6020 adolescents indicated that more adolescents who took overdoses than those who cut themselves said that they wanted to die & had wanted to find out if someone loved them. More self-cutters than self-poisoners had thought about the act of self-harm for less than an hour beforehand. Implications for prevention efforts are discussed. (36 refs)