Close
Self-harming by boys increases 50% in four years
4 February 2020
Professor Yvonne Kelly (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) comments on a study which suggests the number of boys self-harming has nearly doubled in four years. She explains: “The rise could be accounted for by boys being more prepared to speak out about their emotional problems.”
The number of boys self-harming has increased by almost half in just four years, according to a major World Health Organisation (WHO) study, prompting warnings that social media is “normalising” the dangerous practice.
The study conducted every four years by British academics in conjunction with the WHO found almost one in six 15-year-old boys (16 per cent) in England said they had self-harmed, up from 11 per cent in 2014.
Girls are more than twice as likely as boys to self-harm but the proportion increased at a slower rate than boys, up from 32 per cent in 2014 to 35 per cent in 2018, according to the study of 3,398 children aged 11 to 15 in England.