title: Deliberate self-harm in 15-year-old adolescents: a pilot study with a modified version of the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the rate of deliberate self-harm in 15-year-old Swedish adolescents, gender differences in this behavior, and possible associations with self-esteem and mindfulness. For this purpose, we developed a simplified version of Gratz's (2001) Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI), and carried out a pilot study with 123 adolescents from three different schools in southern Sweden. The results showed that 65.9% of the adolescents reported having engaged in some kind of deliberate self-harm at least once; 41.5% reported at least one kind of self-harm more than once; and 13.8% reported at least one kind of deliberate self-harm behavior "many times". Although there were no overall gender differences in self-harm, the girls reported significantly more of cutting wrists, arms and other body areas than the boys. High rates of deliberate self-harm were associated with low self-esteem and low mindfulness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden. Lars-Gunnar.Lundh@psychology.lu.se
authors.forename: Lars-Gunnar
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Lundh
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quilisch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D012650:Self Disclosure; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology