title: Deliberate self-harm and childhood hyperactivity in junior high school students.
abstract: The present study aimed to explore the status of deliberate self-harm (DSH) among junior high-school students, and investigate the relationship between DSH and substance use and childhood hyperactivity. Subjects were 239 boys (mean age = 14.16 years, SD = 0.67) and 238 girls (14.22, 0.68) from a junior high-school in Kanagawa, Japan. A self-reporting questionnaire consisting of original questions on self-cutting, self-hitting, and tobacco and alcohol use was employed with the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) for assessing childhood hyperactivity. Overall, 8.00% and 27.70% of males and 9.30% and 12.20% of females reported self-cutting and self-hitting, respectively. Regarding substance use, 33.10% and 74.10% of males and 14.30% and 63.40% of females reported tobacco and alcohol use, respectively. Comparisons of WURS scores between those with and without experience of problematic behaviors revealed that with all problematic behaviors in both genders, scores of those with experience were significantly higher than those without (P < 0.01 except for self-cutting in females, P < 0.05). The present study indicated that DSH is an important problem, even among children as young as junior high-school age. An association between DSH and childhood hyperactivity was also suggested.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Forensic Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo 187, Japan. izutsu@gakushikai.jp
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Izutsu
authors.forename: Sakie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimotsu
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Miwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojimoto
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires