Risk Behaviors of High School Students Who Report Knowing Someone Who Self-Harms

Self-harm involves the direct and deliberate destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent and is identified as a maladaptive attempt to cope with stressful emotions. This descriptive, correlational study used a secondary analysis of 5,411 high school students where 72% (n = 3,895) reported knowing someone who had cut or tried to harm themselves in some other way. Students who reported knowing someone who self-harms were more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and use drugs. These students also reported higher rates of bullying, cyberbullying, in addition to Internet risk taking with sexting, and receiving sexts. Nurses, practitioners, and other professionals are in key roles to assess risk taking behaviors in adolescents. Focused health interventions and educational programs that emphasize screening, prevention, risk reduction and safety in addition to long-term impact are imperative to detect vulnerable and at-risk adolescents.