One in Five Cornell and Princeton Students Purposely Harm Themselves

CHICAGO – Nearly one in five students at two Ivy League schools say they have purposely injured themselves by cutting, burning, or other methods, a disturbing phenomenon that psychologists say they are hearing about more often.The results of the survey at Cornell and Princeton are similar to other estimates on this behavior. Counselors say it’s happening at colleges, high schools, and middle schools across the country.Separate research found more than 400 Web sites devoted to the subject, including many that glorify self-injury. Some worry that sites fuel the behavior – although whether there has been an increase in the practice or just more awareness is unclear.Sarah Rodey, 20, a University of Illinois student who started cutting herself at age 16, said some online sites help socially isolated kids feel they belong. One of her favorites includes graphic photographs that the site warns might be “triggering.”“I saw myself in some of those pictures, in the poems. And because I saw myself there, I wanted to connect to it better” by self-injuring, Ms. Rodey said.“You’re trying to get people to know that you’re hurting, and at the same time, it pushes them away” because the behavior is so distressing, said Ms. Rodey, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.The latest prevalence estimate comes from an analysis of responses from 2,875 randomly selected male and female undergraduates and graduate students at Cornell and Princeton who completed an Internet-based mental health survey.Seventeen percent said they had purposely injured themselves; among those, 70% had done so multiple times. The estimate is comparable to previous reports on American adolescents and young adults, but slightly higher than studies of high school students in Australia and Britain.The study appears in this month’s issue of Pediatrics, released today. Cornell psychologist Janis Whitlock, the study’s main author, also led the Web site research, published in April in Developmental Psychology.Among the Ivy League students who harmed themselves, about half said they’d experienced sexual, emotional or physical abuse that researchers think can trigger self-abuse.Repeat self-abusers were more likely than non-injurers to be female and to have had eating disorders or suicidal tendencies, although self-injuring is usually not considered a suicide attempt.Greg Eels, director of counseling and psychological services at Cornell, said although the competitive, stressful college environment may be particularly intense at Ivy League schools, the results reflect a national problem.Dr. Daniel Silverman, a study co-author and Princeton’s director of health services, said the study has raised consciousness among his staff, who are now encouraged to routinely ask about self-abuse when faced with students “in acute distress.”“Unless we start talking about it and making it more acceptable for people to come forward, it will remain hidden,” Dr. Silverman said.Some self-injurers have no diagnosable illness but have not learned effective ways to cope with life stresses, an associate professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio, Victoria White Kress, said.Psychologists who work with middle and high schools “are overwhelmed with referrals for these kids,” said psychologist Richard Lieberman, who coordinates a suicide prevention program for Los Angeles public schools.He said one school recently reported several fourth-graders with burns on their arms, and another seeking help for “15 hysterical seventh-grade girls in the office and they all have cuts on their arms.”In those situations, Mr. Lieberman said there’s usually one instigator whose behavior is copied by sympathetic but probably less troubled friends.Ms. Rodey, a college sophomore, said cutting became part of her daily high school routine.“It was part of waking up, getting dressed, the last look in the mirror and then the cut on the wrist. It got to be where I couldn’t have a perfect day without it,” Ms. Rodey said.

One in Five Cornell and Princeton Students Purposely Harm Themselves

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