The Effects of Self Harming Behaviours of Youth in Child Welfare Care (original) (raw)
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Suicidality among Aboriginal Youth in the Non-Aboriginal Child Protection Services System1
2010
Worldwide, suicide is a leading cause of death among youth (WHO 2006), and is an especially insidious problem among individuals with a history of maltreatment (Giardino and Giardino 2002; Zoroglu et al. 2003). Beyond suicide, a history of childhood maltreatment increases the risk of experiencing a number of developmental challenges and negative behavioural health outcomes starting in adolescence and extending through adulthood (e.g., MacMillan et al. 2001; Wekerle, Miller, Wolfe, and Spindel 2006; Wekerle, Leung, Wall, MacMillan, Boyle, Trocmé, and Waechter 2009; Wekerle and Wolfe 2003; Widom 1999). These include associated behaviours such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, aggression and delinquency, sexual risk-taking, and substance misuse. For example, youth involved with child welfare or child protection services (CPS) report two to five times greater past-week proximal distress (i.e., depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation) than their non-CPS involved peers (We...
Self-Harm and Attempted Suicide In Young People Looked After In State Care
Journal of Children and …, 2008
As Northern Ireland recovers from 30 years of violence, political focus has moved to address social issues in the post-conflict environment. In particular, suicide rates in Northern Ireland have steadily increased over the last three decades leading to the recognition of suicide as a major public health issue in the region. Statistics relating to hospital admissions for self-harm in Northern Ireland indicate that the number of such admissions has increased by 9% since 2000. In 2006 the Northern Ireland Suicide Prevention Strategy was launched with the strategic aim ‘to reduce the Northern Ireland suicide rate, particularly among young people and those most at risk.’ However no specific mention is made of young people who live in state care. This paper uses social worker accounts to highlight the emotional and behavioural vulnerabilities as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in a group of adolescents (n=165) who are ‘looked after’ away from home. It was found that 49.6% of the young people scored within the abnormal range of the SDQ Total Difficulties score and social worker reported prevalence of suicidal behaviour (10.3%) and self-harm(12.7%) was high. It is argued that widespread special interventions need to be put in place for this especially vulnerable population.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Background Very little is known about self-harm in children. We describe the characteristics and outcomes of children under 13 years who presented following self-harm to five hospitals in England. Methods We included children under 13 years who presented after self-harm to hospitals in the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in England. Information on patients’ characteristics and method of self-harm was available through monitoring of self-harm in the hospitals. Area level of socioeconomic deprivation was based on the English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Results 387 children aged 5–12 years presented to the study hospitals in 2000–2016, 39% of whom were 5–11 years. Boys outnumbered girls 2:1 at 5–10 years. The numbers of boys and girls were similar at age 11, while at 12 years there were 3.8 girls to every boy. The proportion of study children living in neighbourhoods ranked most deprived (43.4%) was twice the national average. 61.5% of children self-poisoned, 50.6% of them by i...
The British journal of clinical psychology, 2017
Young people in the public care system ('looked-after' young people) have high levels of self-harm. This paper reports the first detailed study of factors leading to self-harm over time in looked-after young people in England, using sequence analyses of the Card Sort Task for Self-harm (CaTS). Young people in care (looked-after group: n = 24; 14-21 years) and young people who had never been in care (contrast group: n = 21; 13-21 years) completed the CaTS, describing sequences of factors leading to their first and most recent episodes of self-harm. Lag sequential analysis determined patterns of significant transitions between factors (thoughts, feelings, behaviours, events) leading to self-harm across 6 months. Young people in care reported feeling better immediately following their first episode of self-harm. However, fearlessness of death, impulsivity, and access to means were reported most proximal to recent self-harm. Although difficult negative emotions were salient to s...