NCJ Number
197722
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 1333-1341
Date Published
November 2002
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article describes an examination of the features and specific reinforcing effects of SIB (self-injurious behavior) in adolescent psychiatric patients.
Abstract
This study collected data on 42 self-injuring adolescents that were admitted to a hospital during a 4 month period, with a mean age of 15.7 years, who were surveyed by means of a self-report questionnaire and medical report review. Nearly 79 percent of the adolescents surveyed reported urges to self injure almost daily, with actual self injury occurring once a week for 83 percent. The reasons for their behavior, as given by the study participants, was to release unbearable tension and cope with feelings of depression. Tables include information on sample characteristics of the participants, reported forms of self injury, and areas injured most frequently for the total sample and by gender, most common reasons endorsed for engaging in self injury, and features consistent with addictive behavior. It was found that SIB behavior for hospitalized adolescent patients is a means of regulating dysphoric affect and displays many addictive characteristics. Adolescents with clinically elevated levels of internalized anger were found to appear to be more at risk for more addictive features of the behavior. In conclusion, the limitations of this study are discussed, for example, the fact that the adolescents studied were predominantly white, hospitalized, and presenting with significant levels of psychopathology rendering the results not generalizable to all adolescents. References