Investigation on self-harm and the related factors in children and adolescents

Objective To identify the characteristics and related risk factors of self-harm behaviors among children and adolescents and provide basis for taking effective intervention measures.Methods A total of 2623 children and adolescents aged from 7 to 22 years old was investigated on the self-harm behaviors during the past 12 months.Results The self-injury rate of children and adolescents was 7120 percent.The self-injury rate of girls was higher than that of boys and the girls used different self-harm manners compared with the boys(P<0.05).For the constituent ratio of cause of self-injury,pressure accounted for 44.6 percent.The chastisement of parents or teachers accounted for 17.4 percent.Self-harm athome was the most universal(47.9%),followed by at school(33.1%).The most vulnerable site of self-harm was the upper limb (31.4%).After self-harm,118 cases(97.5%)recovered and 3 cases(2.5%)left deactivation or disability.Day-to-day care time of their parents less than 6 hours,the children in county and city and young people after puberty were more prone to self-harm.Conclusion The self-harm behavior rate is high among children and adolescents and main related factors are age,residential place and parental care time.