Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients’ Self-Reported Reasons for Cutting Themselves

To ascertain (1) whether male and female adolescent (13-17 years old) psychiatric inpatients endorse comparable reasons for cutting themselves and (2) whether these reasons are correlated with selected psychosocial characteristics of the adolescents, self-reported depression, and hopelessness, the Self-Injury Motivation Scale II (SIMS-II), the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale were administered to 19 (38%) male and 31 (62%) female adolescents who had cut themselves. Independent t tests found that none of the SIMS-II subscale scores was differentiated by sex, but the Beck Depression Inventory-II total score was significantly correlated with the SIMS-II total, Affect Modulation, Desolation, and Punitive Duality subscale scores. The results are discussed as indicating that male and female adolescent inpatients endorse comparable reasons for cutting themselves and that self-reported depression is positively associated with the number and intensity of different motivations for cutting oneself.