Self-harm and eating disorders in young people

The purpose of this report is to elucidate young people’s self-harming behaviour in order to find possible causes, risk and protection factors to generate ideas for effective preventive measures.
The study finds a clear link between self-harm among young people on the one hand, and a difficult upbringing with physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse or other accumulated, traumatic life events on the other. The risk of developing an eating disorder is also pronounced, although to a lesser degree, for young people who have experienced accumulated traumatic life events.
The report finds that children and young people who have had a difficult childhood, and who end up developing self-harming behaviour, have rarely received social support. On the other hand, those who have received support, have more often had an enriching and stimulating childhood, despite the difficult circumstances.
The study is based on interviews with 2,980 young people who were all born in 1984, and were about 25 years old at the time of the interview.