Self-injurious Behaviors in a College Population

Abstract

A substantial number of college students reported self-injurious behaviors in their lifetimes. Many of the behaviors occurred among individuals who had never been in therapy for any reason and who only rarely disclosed their self-injurious behaviors to anyone. Single self-injurious behavior incidents were correlated with a history of abuse and comorbid adverse health conditions but less strongly than were repeat self-injurious behavior incidents. The reticence of these clients to seek help or advice renders it critical that medical and mental health providers find effective strategies for detecting and addressing self-injurious behaviors.

Child maltreatment, non-suicidal self-injury, and the mediating role of self-criticism

“…Data suggest that approximately 4% of adults in the US population exhibit NSSI (Briere & Gil, 1998;Klonsky, Oltmanns, & Turkheimer, 2003), and that adolescents are at even higher risk, with approximately 12-21% reporting a lifetime history of NSSI (Ross & Heath, 2002;Whitlock, Eckenrode, & Silverman, 2006;Zoroglu et al, 2003). Recent research has begun to systematically describe the form and function of NSSI (Brown, Comtois, & Linehan, 2002;Nock & Prinstein, 2004, 2005; however, the potential pathways to this behavior are not well understood.…”

Non-suicidal self-injury: clinical presentation, assessment and management

“…Although international variation exists, evidence suggest that around 7% of pre-adolescents ), 14-46% of adolescents (Brunner, Kaess, & Parzer, 2013;Darche, 1990, DiClemente, Ponton, & Hartley, 1991Lloyd-Richardson, Perrine, Dierker, & Kelley, 2007;Ross & Heath, 2002), 12-20% of young adults (e.g., Gollust, Eisengerg, & Golberstein, 2008;Whitlock et al, 2006) and 1-6% of adults (Klonsky & Olino, 2008;Klonsky, 2011) report having self-injured at least once. These figures are presented in Table 1.…”

“…Although most research finds adolescent and adult females to be 1.5-3 times more likely to self-injure (Purington et al, 2009;Whitlock et al, 2006), other research suggests that the gender-gap may be smaller (Heath, Toste, Nedecheva, & Charlebois, 2008).…”

“…Common methods of NSSI include cutting (Briere & Gil, 1998;Langbehn & Pfohl, 1993;Nock et al, 2006), burning, scratching (Whitlock et al, 2006), hitting oneself, biting, and interfering with wound healing (Nock et al, 2006;Whitlock, Eckenrode, & Silverman, 2006;Klonsky & Olino, 2008). In the largest study to date of a non-treatment sample, severe scratching of the skin was the most common form of NSSI.…”

“…In the largest study to date of a non-treatment sample, severe scratching of the skin was the most common form of NSSI. Notably, most individuals who self-injure use multiple methods (Favazza & Conterio, 1989;Gratz, 2001;Herpertz, 1995;Whitlock et al, 2006) and the frequency and severity of the behaviour appear to vary in different populations. Studies using school-based or community samples of adolescents and young adults report that the majority of individuals only self-injure a few times (e.g., less than 10 lifetime acts; Whitlock et al, 2008).…”