A Qualitative Study of Self-Injurious Behaviour in Women Offenders
Figure 1.Percentage of participants who endorsed each motivation for NSSI.
This bar chart shows the number of participants who reported engaging in NSSI for each reason listed. Copings is endorsed the most (n = 36), followed by communication (n = 18), to see blood or feel pain (n = 2), beacause it feels good (n = 11), to hurt self instead of hurting others (n = 7), for instrumental reasons (n = 7), being in prison (n = 5), to feel in control (n = 3), because a friend was self-injurying (n = 3), to re-enact past trauma (n = 2), to numb emotions (n = 2), and to hurt self before others could hurt them (n = 1).