Understanding Self-Harm Among Young People
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 758
Special Issue Editors
Interests: arts-based qualitative inquiry; suicide studies; mental health and wellbeing; participatory research; sociology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Over the past decade, self-harm rates have increased across multiple high-income nations, with increases particularly prominent in young women aged 10–25. This is concerning given that self-harm is a predictor of suicidality. Self-harm during adolescence has also been linked with numerous other adverse outcomes such as adulthood mental health difficulties (including anxiety and depression), difficulties with emotion regulation, illicit substance dependence, poorer educational and employment outcomes, and lower ratings of life satisfaction.
While there is research demonstrating that self-harm in adolescents is primarily driven by intrapersonal motivations (e.g., emotion regulation) and is often a response to interpersonal stressors, there is still limited understanding of the specific factors that have contributed to an increase in self-harm rates over the past decade. A more robust understanding of the experience of self-harm and factors contributing to self-harm would inform the development of appropriate intervention programs to prevent or reduce its incidence. Papers that focus on self-harm among young people, including contributing factors/precipitants, motivations, experiences, and interventions for self-harm, are invited for this Special Issue.
Prof. Dr. Katherine M. Boydell
Prof. Dr. Helen Christensen
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- self-harm
- mental health
- adolescents
- young people
- suicide
- non-suicidal self-injury
- qualitative inquiry
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