Self-harm behavior and suicidal ideation among high school students. Gender differences and relationship with coping strategies

Abstract

Deliberate self-harm, suicide intents and suicidal ideation are suicide risk symptoms in adolescence. The knowledge of their prevalence and associated characteristics is needed to prevent and treat them properly. The aims of the present study are: a) to analyse the presence of deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation among a general adolescent population according to sex, b) to investigate the link between these two symptoms, calculating the risk ratio (RR) of self-harming behavior among adolescents with suicidal ideation, and c) to analyze the coping strategies used by adolescents with presence/absence of these behaviors. Participants are 1,171 Catalonian high school students (518 boys and 653 girls) aged 12 to 16 years. Self-harm behavior was assessed by means of YSR and coping strategies by means of CRI-Youth. Results indicate that the prevalence of self-harm behavior is 11.4% and the one for the suicidal ideation is 12.5%, percentages that are in accordance with the literature. No gender differences are found, but there is an increase with age in both types of risk behaviors. There is a significant link between deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation. The RR indicates that the self-harming behavior is 10 times more likely to occur in the adolescents with suicidal ideation than in the adolescents without such ideation. The use of specific coping strategies differentiates between adolescents with presence/absence of these risk behaviors, especially in the case of girls. These findings may have important preventive value and contribute to the implementation of more effective treatments. Key words: Self-harm behavior, suicidal ideation, coping strategies, adolescence, sex differences.