How common is self-harm?

Self-harm is more common than people realise. It's impossible to say exactly how many young people self-harm because:

• Many young people hurt themselves secretly before finding the courage to tell someone
• Many of them never ask for counselling or medical help
• There is no standard definition of self-harm used in research
• There are no national statistics on self-harm currently available

However, the best evidence we have suggests:

• Self-harm is most common in children over the age of 11 and increases in frequency with age. It is uncommon in very young children although there is evidence of children as young as five trying to harm themselves
• Self-harm is more common amongst girls and young women than amongst boys and young men. Studies indicate that, amongst young people over 13 years of age, approximately three times as many females as males harm themselves
• A study in Oxford found that approximately 300 per 100,000 males aged between 15 and 24 years, and 700 per 100,000 females of the same age, were admitted to hospital following an episode of self-harm during the year 2000
• Community based studies report higher rates of self-harm than hospital based studies
• A national survey of children and adolescents carried out in the community found that 5 per cent of boys and 8 per cent of girls aged 13-15 said that they had, at some time, tried to harm, hurt or kill themselves
• In the same national survey, rates of self-harm reported by parents were much lower than the rates of self-harm reported by children. This suggests that many parents are unaware that their children are self-harming
• A study carried out in schools in 2002 found that 11 per cent of girls and 3 per cent of boys aged 15 and 16 said they had harmed themselves in the previous year.