Teen Girls More Likely to Self-Harm

In a survey of more than 6,000 teens in England aged 15 and 16, researchers found that 11 percent of girls reported self-harm in the last year.

Although self-poisoning is the most common form of self-harm reported in hospitals, the survey revealed that 64.5 percent of the teens said they had engaged in self-cutting, followed by 31 percent who said they had tried to self-poison through overdose.

The study shows that deliberate self-harm is common amongst teenagers in England, especially in girls, who are four times more likely to self-harm than boys, said Dr. Karen Rodham, of the University of Bath.

Until now, most studies of deliberate self-harm in adolescents in the United Kingdom have been based on the cases that reach hospital — we have found that the true extent of self-harm in England is significantly wider than that.

In many cases, self-harming behavior represents a transient period of distress, but for others it is an important indicator of mental health problems and a risk of suicide, according to Keith Hawton, from the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford.

Rodham and Hawton have written their findings in a book, By Their Own Young Hand — Deliberate Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideas in Adolescents.