An Exploratory Study of Correlates, Onset, and Offset of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

The authors examined a wide array of factors hypothesized to correlate with non-suicidal self-injury & provided a qualitative analysis of adolescents’ self-reported motivations for starting & stopping this behaviour. Participants were 64 adolescents with a history of non-suicidal self-injury & 30 comparison adolescents. The presence of non-suicidal self-injury was associated with a family history of suicide ideation, violence, & drug & alcohol abuse, but not with more general forms of psychopathology. Self-injurers reported getting the idea to self-injure from peers more often than any other source, & most reported at least one reason for wanting to stop self-injury. Less than half were currently receiving treatment. (40 refs.)