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Characteristics and Predictors of Self-Mutilation: A Study of Incarcerated Women

NCJ Number
221065
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Dated: 2007 Pages: 312-321
Author(s)
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz
Date Published
2007
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether a history of childhood abuse increased the likelihood of self-mutilation among 256 female inmates in 5 prisons in a large southern State.
Abstract
The study found that women in the self-mutilation group (n=109) were more likely to report higher rates of childhood emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. They were also more likely to reach clinical significance on scales of anxiety, depression, dissociation, impaired self-reference, anger, tension-reduction, and intrusive experiences. Women in the self-mutilation group were younger and more likely to be White. A history of suicide attempts, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, binging and vomiting, and impaired self-reference were predictors of self-mutilation. The author recommends that female children, adolescent girls, and women be assessed for self-mutilating behaviors when they have been identified as survivors of sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse. Prison personnel, child welfare workers, and mental health workers should be trained in identifying correlates and possible predictors of self-mutilating behaviors. Prevention programs should be developed for elementary, middle, and high-school teachers, so they can identify self-mutilating behaviors. Also, specific self-mutilation treatment groups should be developed for incarcerated women. Victims of self-mutilating behaviors should be offered tools for body awareness, such as breathing exercises, guided imagery, and body scans, so they can develop a healthy image of their bodies. The 256 women inmates were evaluated for childhood abuse, criminal history, risk-taking behavior, and self-mutilation. Self-mutilators and nonself-mutilators were compared on individual, criminal, abuse, family, and risk-taking behaviors. 4 tables and 31 references