Why do People Self Injury?

Is self injury a dangerous thing? Brausch (2012) stated self injury is defined as the intentional physical harming of one’s own body (injuring, cutting the skin, wound-excoriation, and so on) without suicidal intention, social amusement purpose, or alcohol and drug overdose. And then the most frequently performed form of action (70% – 90%) is skin cutting, scraping or carving; bumps, bruises, and self-hits (21-44%); and burn 15-35% (Klonsky et al., 2011). People do self-injury with the kind of slashing of body parts using the help of sharp objects (broken glass, needles, and a small knife), inhaling hazards, as well as hitting themselves. Self injury is done by many women compared to men. This is in line with what was stated by Chan et al., (2018), self injury is more often done by women than men. Based on research made by YouGov Omnibus, more than a third of Indonesia's population (36.9%) have self injury. Of this percentage, the highest prevalence was found in the age group 18-24 years from the demographics of this percentage, 45% of respondents had committed self injury, which means that 5 out of young people there are 2 children who have committed self injury, while 7% of respondents have committed self injury with regular frequency (Santoso, 2022). This agree with Claassen et al., (2006) Self injury usually begins in adolescence and is more commonly observed in adolescence and young adult ages than in adults. So, self injury is a dangerous thing, for everyone in every country.

Self injury occurs for many reasons. The first is because individuals feel lonely. This is discussed in research Ronka (2012) that the biggest factor causing individuals to experience self injury is the loneliness factor. DiTomasso and Spinner (1993) stated that there are several categories of loneliness that cause someone to experience self injury,  family loneliness, romantic loneliness, and social loneliness. Family loneliness is loneliness that an individual feels due to an unfavorable experience or relationship with his family. This is related to another factor, namely communication patterns with parents. Minimal communication between parents and children is often the cause of children feeling worthless or not considered and then hurting themselves. Romantic loneliness is loneliness experienced by individuals due to a sense of lack of intimate relationships with other individuals in the form of romantic relationships, for example when breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend or being left behind by someone who is considered valuable for life. Meanwhile, social loneliness is the result of inadequate social relationships, shown when individuals lack a network of social relationships where the individual carries out daily activities. This can occur as a result of the individual experiencing bullying. The absence of warm relationships with people around where the individual is active has an impact on self-isolation and also self injury.

The next factor is emotion focused coping. Mullis and Chapman (2000) stated that the study revealed that adolescents' use of problem-focused (proactive) styles of coping with stereotypes and discrimination was associated with higher self-esteem, and the use of emotion-focused strategies (e.g., verbal retorts) was related to lower self-esteem. Teens tend to use this way to cope with their problems, for example by destructive or self-injurious behaviors such as consuming alcohol, smoking, and even cutting. These attempts are made to achieve a sense of comfort for the pressure or stress experienced by the adolescent.

The last factor is parenting style. The quality of family relationships and parenting styles have a strong impact on the presence and frequency of self-injurious behaviour in adolescents. Because adolescence is a vulnerable, turbulent period, both of these factors tend to fuel maladaptive emotional responses, which can directly lead to self-harm. This is in line with what was stated by Burešová et al., (2015), insufficient emotional support on the part of the parents not only directly affects the occurrence of self-harm, but also increases the risk of selfharm indirectly through increasing the frequency of depressive moods in adolescents. For example, highly critical parents are likely to foster excessive self-criticism in their children, which, in turn, might become a trigger of selfinjurious behaviour. So, adequate parenting style is considered one of the best protective factors against self-harm, and conversely, inadequate parenting style is a reliable positive predictor of its occurrence.

The reason why someone experiences self injury is because they feel lonely, reduce pressure by doing self injury, and poor parenting. Therefore, we as friends must be able to care about the people around us, for example by being a place for someone's story so they don't feel lonely. We also as a family can share stories about how the impact of parenting can cause children to do self injury, so that parents or families can better understand and avoid self injury behavior. Let's help the people around us who are in trouble so they don't commit self injury.

Reference

Kelada, L., Hasking, P., & Melvin, G. A. (2017). School response to self-injury: Concerns of mental health staff and parents. School psychology quarterly, 32(2), 173.

Chan, S., Denny, S., Fleming, T., Fortune, S., Peiris-John, R., & Dyson, B. (2018). Exposure to suicide behaviour and individual risk of self-harm: Findings from a nationally representative New Zealand high school survey. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 52(4), 349-356.

Khairunnisa, A., Yulindrasari, H., & Santoso. (2022, September). Dominant Discourse in Teachers' Perceptions about Self-Harm that is Performed by Female Students at Boarding School. In Proceedings of International Conference on Psychological Studies (ICPSYCHE) (Vol. 3, pp. 265-274).

Rönkä, A. R., Taanila, A., Koiranen, M., Sunnari, V., & Rautio, A. (2013). Associations of deliberate self-harm with loneliness, self-rated health and life satisfaction in adolescence: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study. International journal of circumpolar health, 72(1), 21085.

Klonsky, E. D. (2011). Non-suicidal self-injury in United States adults: prevalence, sociodemographics, topography and functions. Psychological medicine, 41(9), 1981-1986.

DiTommaso, E., & Spinner, B. (1993). The development and initial validation of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA). Personality and individual differences, 14(1), 127-134.

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Baetens, I., Claes, L., Onghena, P., Grietens, H., Van Leeuwen, K., Pieters, C., ... & Griffith, J. W. (2014). Non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: a longitudinal study of the relationship between NSSI, psychological distress and perceived parenting. Journal of Adolescence, 37(6), 817-826.

Chapman, P. L., & Mullis, R. L. (2000). Racial differences in adolescent coping and self-esteem. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 161(2), 152-160.

Burešová, I., Bartošová, K., & Čerňák, M. (2015). Connection between parenting styles and self-harm in adolescence. Procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 171, 1106-1113.