Hair pulling and its affective correlates in an African-American university sample

Like other clinical phenomena, repetitive hair pulling in African-Americans has attracted little systematic investigation. Slightly over 200 participants were recruited from a historically black university. Participants completed the Hair Pulling Scale [Stanley, M. A., Borden, J. W., Bell, G. E., & Wagner, A. L. (1994). Nonclinical hair pulling: phenomenology and related psychopathology. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 8, 119-130], the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Ten percent of the African-American sample thought about pulling out hair and 6.3% actually pulled out hair. A variety of types of affect was reported before, during, and after pulling or picking. Several statistically significant relationships were found: status as a person who thinks about pulling out hair is significantly correlated with anxiety as measured by the BAI (r=.265, p=.000), status as a person who pulls hair is significantly correlated with anxiety as measured by the BAI (p=.192, r=.007). Implications are discussed.