title: Boy Crisis? Sex Differences in Self-Injurious Behaviors and the Effects of Gender Role Conflicts Among College Students in China.
abstract: In Western research, self-injurious behaviors are commonly viewed as "feminine" behavior. In this present study, using the data from a survey administered to 960 first- and second-year students in Xi'an Jiaotong University in China, the self-injurious behaviors among college students are analyzed by sex. The results reported that the average prevalence of self-injurious behaviors among male students is 35.2%, higher than the 20.4% observed among female students (p < .1), and the average frequency of severe self-injurious behaviors among male students is 0.4, higher than the 0.18 reported among female students (p < .05). Gender role conflicts and verbal violence are strongly associated with male students' self-injurious behaviors, whereas gender role conflicts and verbal, visual, and sexual violence are strongly associated with female students' self-injurious behaviors. This suggests that self-injurious behaviors among college students in China constitute, to some extent, a boy crisis that can be well explained by gender role conflicts. In addition, verbal violence leads to self-injurious behaviors among both male and female students, whereas visual and sexual violence lead to self-injurious behaviors only among female students.
authors.affiliation: Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qiuling
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China xueyanyang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xueyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Rural Development of Shaanxi Social Science Academy, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: boy crisis; gender role conflicts; self-injurious behaviors; violent experiences