The Seasonal Risk for Deliberate Self-Harm: Determined by Place of Birth, but Occurrence Determined by Place of Residence

In order to disaggregate place of birth from place of residence, the authors examined general & seasonal risk factors for deliberate self-harm in 3 different population birth groups living in Western Australia: Australian Aborigines, Australian born non-Aborigines, & United Kingdom migrants. It was found Aborigines are at much higher general risk for deliberate self-harm than non-Aborigines, but are not at seasonal risk, whereas non-Aboriginal Australians & United Kingdom migrants are. For all groups at seasonal risk, this peaks during the austral spring/summer. The gender difference found between United Kingdom migrants & non-Aboriginal Australian birth groups suggests that predisposition towards seasonal risk for deliberate self-harm is estalished early & when present is expressed according to local conditions. (45 refs.)