KEY POINTS:
Teenage girls are three times more likely to commit acts of self harm than their male counterparts, says a visiting British academic.
Professor Keith Hawton, from the University of Oxford, said females were more likely to engage in self harm than males and the acts were linked to puberty, drug use and depression.
"Self harm is essentially any acute intentional act of self injury or self poisoning. Research into deliberate self-harm in adolescents has made significant progress in recent years."
A recent European study of 25,000 teenagers found girls were three times more likely to commit acts of self harm compared to boys.
Prof Hawton said other international studies show nearly 10 per cent of adolescents have a history of self-harm.
Reasons for self-harm range from attempted suicide to communication of distress.
Motivation and early warning signs or predictors can be difficult to identify, Prof Hawton said.
Prof Hawton will give a lecture on self harm at the University of Otago in Christchurch tomorrow.
- NZPA
