Has cutting become cool? : Normalising, social influence and socially-motivated deliberate self-harm in adolescent girls : a research project presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealan
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Date
2013
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Massey University
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Abstract
The literature focusing on deliberate self-harm (DSH) has grown exponentially over the
last decade. The most commonly understood reasons for DSH are based on distress
relief and attenuation of emotional numbness. However, few studies have explored the
social aspects of DSH. With the advent of some youth subcultures where DSH appears
to be routine, the possibility arises that DSH may have become a normalised, social
behaviour which is influenced by peers and which may not always be rooted in
underlying psychopathology, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD), or it may
derive from a somewhat different pattern of underlying psychopathology than that
which is usually found among those who engage in DSH. This study aimed to explore
the differences between self-harming and non-self-harming adolescent girls, and
between girls who self-harm for social reasons and those who endorse other reasons for
DSH, in terms of social influence, underlying psychopathology and normalising of
DSH. Participants were 387 adolescent girls (303 non-self-harmers and 84 self-harmers)
from schools in the greater Auckland area. Results showed that socially-motivated selfharmers
were more susceptible to peer pressure and endorsed higher levels of
normalisation of DSH than their counterparts, although overall levels of normalisation
were low. However, those who endorsed social reasons for harm did not do so
exclusively and were just as likely to endorse emotional reasons. Social harmers did not
differ from other harmers in terms of psychological problems but indicated that the
impact of their problems was less. When compared to non-self-harmers, the selfharming
girls scored higher in peer influence and lower in parent influence, and also
scored higher on measures of psychopathology. Clinical implications and suggestions
for further research are discussed.
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Keywords
Self-harm, Adolescent girls, Teenage girls, Psychopathology