title: Youth in crisis: dimensions of self-destructive conduct among adolescent prisoners.
abstract: Self-mutilation and attempted suidcide among adolescent prisoners are explored in relation to concrete coping tests posed in prison and to self-esteem problems posed by failure of external (family) and internal (peer) support systems. Crisis sequences are traced using verbatim excerpts from interviews with self-destructive prisoners and conceptualized in terms of enduring adolescent needs and concerns. Some general observations regarding strategies of intervention with crisisprone prisoners are included.
mesh_terms: D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D010200:Panic; D011329:Prisoners; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000523:psychology*; D012934:Social Isolation; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*