Prevalence of Pubescent Self-Harm

A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry estimated prevalence of deliberate self-harm among pubescent adolescents. Researchers collected data from 3,332 American and Australian students aged 12–15 years. Students provided data on self-harm episodes of previous 12 months. Prevalence of deliberate self-harm was 3.7%, a rate doubled in females. Late puberty was associated with a fourfold increase in self-harm rates. Depressive symptoms, alcohol abuse, and sexual activity were linked strongly to self-harm rates in multivariate models. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=17420686

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