Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 34, No. 5, October 2005, pp. 447–457 ( C  2005) DOI: 10.1007/s10964-005-7262-z Nonsuicidal Self-Harm Among Community Adolescents: Understanding the “Whats” and “Whys” of Self-Harm Aviva Laye-Gindhu 1 and Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl 2 Received June 17, 2004; revised November 11, 2004; accepted November 11, 2004 This study examines self-harm in a community sample of adolescents. More specifically, the study identifies the prevalence and types of self-harm, elucidates the nature and underlying function of self-harm, and evaluates the relation of psychological adjustment, sociodemographic, and health-risk variables to self-harm. Self-report questionnaires assessing self-harm, adjustment, health behaviors, suicide history, and social desirability were completed by 424 school-based adolescents. Overall, 15% of the adolescents reported engaging in self-harm behavior. Analyses revealed gender differ- ences across behaviors and motivations. Adolescents who indicated harming themselves reported significantly increased antisocial behavior, emotional distress, anger problems, health risk behaviors, and decreased self-esteem. Results provide support for the coping or affect regulation model of self- harm. Findings suggest that self-harm is associated with maladjustment, suicide, and other health behaviors indicative of risk for negative developmental trajectories. KEY WORDS: adolescent; self-harm; self-mutilation; adjustment. NONSUICIDAL SELF-HARM IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF ADOLESCENTS Self-harm, defined here as deliberate and voluntary physical self-injury that is not life-threatening and is with- out any conscious suicidal intent (e.g., Borges et al., 1995; Herpetz, 1995), has been gaining widespread attention in the mainstream culture, as evidenced by popular media (e.g., films Thirteen, Manic). Despite this recent surge in interest, there exists little empirical data on self-harming behavior among community samples of adolescents. In- deed, one caveat that permeates much of the literature on 1 Doctoral student in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Received M.A. in School Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Re- search interests include self-harm, anxiety, coping, and street-involved youth. To whom correspondence should be addressed at the Depart- ment of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4; e-mail: alaye@interchange.ubc.ca. 2 Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Received Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Research interests include adolescent social- cognitive development, developmental psychopathology, and stress and coping. adolescent self-harm is that it has been conducted pri- marily with psychiatric samples, rendering the generaliz- ability of findings to nonclinical samples of adolescents questionable. Given that self-harm typically originates in adolescence (van der Kolk et al., 1991) and may become a sustained habit (Simeon and Favazza, 2001), it behooves researchers and clinicians alike to obtain a more thorough appreciation of self-harm as it unfolds during this critical developmental period. Previous research on adolescent self-harm is limited to 4 important ways. First, conceptualizations and classification systems (the “whats”) of self-harm have varied from study to study. Indeed, there has been no consensus regarding what self-harm is or is not. For example, deliberate self-harm and parasuicidal behavior, terms most often used to describe suicidal behavior, have also been applied to nonsuicidal behavior. Further, diverse terms, including self-harm, self-mutilation, self-cutting, and self-injury are used interchangeably. Without consensus among researchers of how to con- ceptualize and operationalize self-harm, not only is comparability across studies limited, the development of a solid empirical research base to guide future research is compromised. 447 0047-2891/05/1000-0447/0 C  2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.