Self Abuse in High Achieving College Students

In the June 2006 issue of Pediatrics the results of a study has just been released that reported 1 in 5 college students claim they have purposely hurt themselves through cutting, burning or other methods. Psychologists say they are hearing about self-abuse more often.

Self-abuse is not an attempt at suicide but a way to cope with stress, experts say. Students report, themselves, that they feel relief from stress when they make emotional wounds visible through cutting or some other means.

A Mental Health Survey on Self-Injurious Behavior of 8,300 male and female participants was conducted at Cornell and Princeton Universities. 2,876 undergraduate and graduate students responded to the survey. The results are shocking: 17% of all the respondents reported having injured themselves on purpose and 75% of those students said they had done it multiple times. But why ? Why do so many high achieving young adults, with their lives full of promise, want to hurt themselves ? The study revealed that half of the respondents experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse, which researchers say can trigger self-abuse.

Janis Whitlock, the Director of the Research Program on Self Injurious Behaviors said that their results are consistent with those done in a national study in the U.K and smaller studies in the U.S. and in Canada, which show self-injurious behavior to be widespread among adolescents and young adults. In addition, mental health providers who counsel college students and secondary-school students say that self-abuse has increased in the past 5 years.

According to the survey, those repeat self-abusers tend to be female and to have eating disorders or suicidal tendencies. The Director at the Counseling Center at Cornell said that self-abuse is on the increase, not only among college students but across the whole country. Psychologists who work with middle school and high school students are overwhelmed with referrals for children who self-abuse.

Readers can see the full report at "Self-injurious Behaviors in a College Population" by Whitlock et al. in Pediatrics, June 1st, 2006; 117(6): 2283-2284.