These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Reasons for deliberate self-harm: comparison of self-poisoners and self-cutters in a community sample of adolescents.
    Author: Rodham K, Hawton K, Evans E.
    Journal: J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry; 2004 Jan; 43(1):80-7. PubMed ID: 14691363.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: To compare motives and premeditation between adolescent deliberate self-poisoners and self-cutters. METHOD: In a sample of 6,020 pupils aged 15 and 16 years who completed a self-report questionnaire, those who had deliberately cut themselves in the previous year (n = 220) were compared with those who had taken overdoses (n = 86). RESULTS: More adolescents who took overdoses than those who cut themselves said that they had wanted to die (66.7% versus 40.2%, chi2 = 14.94, p <.0001) and had wanted to find out if someone loved them (41.2% versus 27.8%, chi2 = 4.14, p =.042). Female self-cutters were more likely than male self-cutters to say that they had wanted to punish themselves (51.0% versus 25.0%, chi2 = 9.25, p =.002) and had tried to get relief from a terrible state of mind (77.2% versus 60.9%, chi2 = 4.78, p =.029). More self-cutters than self-poisoners had thought about the act of self-harm for less than an hour beforehand (50.9% versus 36.1%, chi2 = 5.25, p =.021). CONCLUSIONS: There are differences between adolescents' motives for overdoses and for self-cutting, and also gender differences in the reasons for self-cutting. The often impulsive nature of these acts (especially self-cutting) means that prevention should focus on encouraging alternative methods of managing distress, problem-solving, and help-seeking before thoughts of self-harm develop.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]