Marc Wilson, Jessica Garisch, Robyn Langlands, Angelique O’Connell, Lynne Russell,
Emma-Jayne Brown, Tahlia Kingi, Kealagh Robinson, and Maddie Judge
Wellington, May 2014

Youth Wellbeing Study
• Longitudinal survey with secondary school students.
• Non-Suicidal Self-injury
• Primarily investigating
– Risk and protective factors for the development of non-suicidal selfinjury
– Barriers to help-seeking

• We have data spanning age-groups
– 13 – 15 years olds
...and you’ve heard us talk about before:
– 16 – 19 year olds
– University students (M=19 yo)

• YWS Wave 1 results
– N=1027 (991 responded to questions on NSSI)
• 213 (21%) engaged in NSSI at least once
– 81.6% had engaged in NSSI in the past year
• Senior secondary school students
– N=1162
• 48.7% had engaged in NSSI at least once
– 53.6% had engaged in NSSI in past year
» 46.4% over a year ago
• University students
– N= 593
• 43.7% had engaged in NSSI at least once

5
4
3
2
1
Pre-survey Post-survey
Participants indicated how they felt at the start, and again at the end, of the survey.
If anything, participants report feeling on average happier at the end.

YWS wave 1: Further information on prevalence...
Type of NSSI Never thought about
Cut
Scratched
Carved
Punched/ banged
Stuck sharp objects
91.1
Prevent healing 91.8
Bitten self
Burn
93.8
94.3
Rubbed glass
Broken bones
96.0
97.1
97.7
Rubbed sandpaper
Dripped acid
Used bleach/ cleaning agent
99.2
99.2
80.2
87.5
89.2
90.3
2.1
1.4
1.6
1.1
1.5
2.4
2.7
Thought about, never done
6.0
2.7
2.3
2.5
0.3
0.7
Have done once
3.8
3.8
3.7
3.7
3.4
1.5
0.7
0.8
3.3
2.4
1.5
0.2
0.1
Have done a few times
Have done many times
6.2
4.0
3.0
2.7
2.4
0.8
0.4
0.3
1.9
1.0
1.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.2
0.1
1.4
0.4
0.5
3.8
1.9
1.7
0.7
0.9
0.0
0.0

Prevalence of Types of NSSI
• YWS Wave 1 sample
– Cutting most common
– Severe scratching, carving the skin, punching or banging
• Senior Secondary School students
– Sticking sharp objects into the skin, carved, scratch most common
– Cutting
Other types assessed (e.g. using acid, sandpaper, etc.) much less frequently reported.
Types of NSSI generally cluster into 2 factors: ‘common’ + ‘uncommon’

University student data suggests that the majority of young people engage in 1 – 3 types of NSSI...

• YWS Wave 1
• Of the 213 who reported NSSI
– 25.6% reported 1 form
– 17.4% reported 2 forms
– 15.5% reported 3 forms
– 37.1% reported > 3 forms

Interpersonal:
Other-focused
Interpersonal: self-focused
Intrapersonal:
Disconnection
Intrapersonal:
Affect & Punish
YWS Wave 1: Four Clusters
(Functions assessed using FASM (Klonsky & Olino, 2008)

Functions & Psycho-social functioning
• Generally, intrapersonal functions (both disconnection and affect regulation/self-punishment) most strongly associated with indicators of poor functioning...

Anxiety Depression

Attachment to Parents Attachment to Peers

Emotion Regulation Resilience

Suicidal Ideation Self-Esteem

2
• Cluster 1: Affect regulation &
C3 self-punishment (n=75)
C1
• Cluster 2: Low on all (n=81)
C4
1
• Cluster 3: Highest on intrapersonal (n=13)
C2
• Cluster 4: High on all, highest on both interpersonal (n=22)
0

YWS: Clusters + Psycho-social functioning
• Four clusters differed significantly on:
– Suicidality (notably C1 and C3)
– Self-esteem
– Resilience
– Depression
– Anxiety
– Emotion regulation
– Attachment to parents (but not peers...)
– NSSI behaviour
Cluster 2 (low on all) generally the best

The NUMBER of types of self-injury engaged in is strongly predictive of suicidal ideation:
For each additional form,
SBQ scores increase:
1 form  SBQ = 3.5ish
2 forms  SBQ = 5ish
3 forms  SBQ = 7ish
7 is the recommended cutoff for concern…

2
1
0
6
C3 5
C1
C4
4
3
C2
2
1
0
C1 C2 C3 C4

0
2
1
C3 – Most likely to cut, carve, insert
C1 – 2 nd most likely to cut, 3 rd most likely for most forms
C4 – most likely to self-bite, 2 nd most likely for most.
Most likely to have thought about ‘atypical’ self-injury like bone breaking, using glass, bleach, etc
C2

• Results congruent with the idea that NSSI begins in early adolescents, and continues into early adulthood for some individuals
• Forms of NSSI: multiple behaviours need to be queried.
• Functions
– Heterogeneity
– Affect regulation most prevalent

• Functions can point to skills required...
– Affect regulation
• Distress tolerance skills
• Labelling and communicating emotions
• Understanding beliefs regarding experiencing (and showing) emotion

• Participating schools, counsellors + students
• HRC
Thanks for listening 
Any questions? Comments?