Teen Self-Harm Statistics in the United States

Teen Self-Harm Statistics

In 2018, 17.6% of U.S. teens reported engaging in self-harm, highlighting a growing mental health crisis. With rates especially high among young women and LGBTQ youth, self-harm is a serious issue affecting adolescents across the country. 

In this post, we’ll explore key statistics on self-harm prevalence by age, gender, and ethnicity, risk factors such as bullying and depression, and the role of social media.

Key Takeaways 

  • In 2018, 17.6% of U.S. adolescents aged 14 to 18 engaged in non-suicidal self-injury, with boys at 11.3% and girls at 23.8%.
  • In 2018, Native American/Alaska Native teens had the highest rate of self-harm at 20.79%, followed by Hispanic teens at 19.19%, and White teens at 17.71%. 
  • Teenage American girls were nearly twice as likely to engage in self-harm as boys in 2018, with rates of 23.8% vs. 11.3%.
  • Between 2020 and 2022, emergency room admissions in the U.S. for self-harm among girls aged 15-19 rose by 30%, and by 42% for girls aged 10-14.
  • In 2023, 54% of LGBTQ youth reported self-harming within the past year, with rates as high as 72% among transgender boys.
  • LGBTQ youth who self-harmed in 2023 were 5 times more likely to contemplate suicide and 9 times more likely to attempt it than those who did not self-harm.
  • In a 2016 study, 87% of surveyed teens in the U.S. reported exposure to self-harm content on social media before engaging in self-injury.
  • In the U.S., ninth-grade girls who self-harmed in 2012 primarily cut or carved their skin, with 82.6% engaging in this behavior.
  • In 2018, U.S., teens who self-harmed had higher rates of depression, with 38.2% of girls and 19.7% of boys feeling sad for 2 weeks or more.
  • In 2018, 19.7% of American teens who self-harmed reported having suicidal thoughts, compared to 10.9% of boys.
  • Teens who had been victims of online bullying were 2.47 times more likely to engage in self-harm in 2018 compared to their non-bullied peers.
  • In 2018, 9.7% of girls and 4.7% of boys who self-harmed reported experiencing forced sexual encounters in the past.
  • In 2023, 72% of transgender boys reported engaging in self-harm, the highest rate among all gender identities.
  • In 2018, teens identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or unsure were 2.5 times more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-injury.

Prevalence of Self-Harm Among U.S. Teens

  • According to a 2018 study by Monto et.al titled “Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among a Representative Sample of US Adolescents” that looked at a nationally representative sample of U.S. teens:  
  • Across 11 U.S. states, the overall prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents (aged 14 to 18) was 17.6% (11.3% for boys and 23.8% for girls).
  • Among boys, non-suicidal self-injury rates varied by state, ranging from 6.4% (Delaware) to 14.8% (Nevada).
  • Among girls, self-harm rates were significantly higher, ranging from 17.7% (Delaware) to 30.8% (Idaho)
  • The prevalence of self-harm among U.S. teens varied by age, decreasing from 19.40% in 14-year-olds to 14.7% in 18-year-olds. 
  • Compared to other ethnicities, Native American/Alaska Native adolescents had the highest rate of self-harm, at 20.79%. 
  • According to the 2022 Intentional Self-Harm and Death by Suicide report by the Vermont Department of Health, intentional self-harm rates are the highest for young people aged 15 to 24, with a rate of 365.9 per 100,000 Vermonters. 
  • According to the American Psychological Association, about 17% of American teenagers engage in self-injury at least once in their lives. 
  • According to a 2018 study by Memon et.al titled “The role of online social networking on deliberate self-harm and suicidality in adolescents.“ American adolescents report a non-suicidal self-injury rate of about 14% to 21%.
  • A 2016 study by Zhu et.al titled “Frequency of Exposure to and Engagement in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among Inpatient Adolescents” looked at 90 patients (aged 12 to 17 years) in an inpatient psychiatric hospital in North Texas and found that: 
  • The average age at which the surveyed teenagers encountered self-harming was approximately 10.85 years.
  • 81.1% of the surveyed teens reported that self-cutting was their primary method of self-harming, while 76.7% indicated that they used multiple methods of self-injury.
  • 87% of participants acknowledged that they had been exposed to non-suicidal self-injury on social media prior to engaging in it themselves.
  • According to a 2012 study by Barrocas et.al titled “Rates of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth: Age, Sex, and Behavioral Methods in a Community Sample:” 
  • Out of 665 youth (between the ages of 7 and 16) surveyed in the U.S., 8.0% reported engaging in non-suicidal self-injury over their lifetime.
  • About 1.5% of surveyed youth met the criteria for a DSM non-suicidal self-injury disorder diagnosis.
  • 7.6% of third-graders, 4.0% of sixth-graders, and 12.7% of ninth-graders reported that they self-harmed, indicating an increase in prevalence with age.

Teen Self-Harm Prevalence by Gender

  • According to data published by The Institute For Family Studies: 
  • Since 2009, there has been more than a twofold increase in emergency room admissions for self-harm behaviors among young girls aged 15 to 19 in the U.S.
  • In 2022, 5 times more young girls (aged 10 to 14) were admitted to the ER for self-harm compared to 2009. 
  • Between 2020 and 2022, emergency room admissions for self-harm rose by 30% among young girls aged 15 to 19, and 42% for girls aged 10 to 14.
  • According to a 2018 study by Monto et.al titled “Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among a Representative Sample of US Adolescents,” teenage girls (aged 14 to 18) were nearly 2 times as likely to report non-suicidal self-injury compared to boys (23.8% vs 11.3%). The results were consistently true for all 11 surveyed U.S. states except Connecticut and Nevada. 
  • According to a 2012 study by Barrocas et.al titled “Rates of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Youth: Age, Sex, and Behavioral Methods in a Community Sample:” 
  • Among surveyed ninth graders in the U.S., 18.9% of girls reported engaging in non-suicidal self-injury, compared to 5.1% of boys. 
  • Of the 665 youth surveyed, 9.0% of girls and 6.7% of boys reported engaging in self-injury. 
  • Across all ages of girls reporting self-injury, 63.6% said they primarily cut or carved their skin, while 55% of boys indicated hitting themselves as the most common method.
  • For ninth-grade girls, the most common method of self-harm was cutting/carving skin, with 82.6% of those engaging in self-harm reporting this behavior.
  • Among ninth-graders across genders, 70.4% reported cutting or carving their skin as their primary method of self-harm. 
  • Across all ages, 18.9% of youth reported engaging in other self-injury behaviors, including biting themselves, pulling at their hair, forcefully running into walls, or throwing their bodies against sharp items. 

Social Media Use and Teen Self-Harm

  • A 2014 study by Mitchell et.al titled “Prevalence rates and association with actual thoughts of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in the United States” was conducted on a nationally representative sample of 1,560 internet-using youth aged 10 to 17 in the U.S. It found that: 
  • Around 1% of surveyed teens reported visiting websites that promoted self-harming or suicide. 
  • Youth who accessed self-harm or suicide-related websites had a 7 times higher chance of considering taking their own lives and were 11 times more likely to contemplate self-harming. 

LGBTQ Teens and Self-Harm Risk

  • According to a 2023 report by The Trevor Project titled “Self-Injury and its Relationship to Suicide Attempts Among LGBTQ Young People”:
  • Of the LGBTQ youth surveyed, 54% indicated they had engaged in self-injury within the past year.
  • LGBTQ teens aged 13-17 had the highest rate of self-injury compared to other age groups, at 63%.
  • Compared to other ethnicities, Native/Indigenous LGBTQ teens had the highest rates of self-injury (67%) in 2023. 
  • Among all gender identities, transgender boys had the highest reported self-injury rate at 72%.
  • Among cisgender individuals, girls and women reported a self-injury rate of 47%, higher than cisgender boys (28%). 
  • The most common reason for self-harming was to manage difficult emotions (such as depression or anxiety), as indicated by 88% of LGBTQ teens.
  • Among LGBTQ young people who self-harmed over the past year, 59% reported having seriously contemplated suicide, and 23% made a suicide attempt in 2023. 
  • Among LGBTQ young people who did not self-harm, 19% expressed serious thoughts about suicide, while 3% reported having made a suicide attempt in 2023.
  • In 2023, LGBTQ teens who self-injured had a 5 times higher chance of contemplating suicide compared to those who did not engage in self-harming behaviors.
  • The likelihood of attempting suicide was 9 times higher among LGBTQ young people who self-injured than among those who did not.
  • According to a 2018 study by Monto et.al titled “Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among a Representative Sample of US Adolescents,” teenagers (aged 14 to 18 years) who were gay, bisexual, lesbian, or questioning, were 2.5 times more likely to report engaging in non-suicidal self-injury. 
  • According to Jackman et.al’s 2018 study titled “Stigma, gender dysphoria, and nonsuicidal self-injury in a community sample of transgender individuals,” over half (53.3%) of transgender individuals with gender dysphoria reported having self-harmed at some point in their life, while 22.3% had engaged in self-harm within the past year in 2018.
  • According to a 2016 study by Aitken et.al titled “Self-Harm and Suicidality in Children Referred for Gender Dysphoria,” transgender teens dealing with gender dysphoria are 8.6 times more likely to engage in self-harm or attempt suicide compared to their peers without gender dysphoria,

Teen Self-Harm Risk Factors and Behavioral Associations

  • According to a 2018 study by Monto et.al titled “Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among a Representative Sample of US Adolescents”:
  • Adolescents aged 14 to 18 who reported engaging in non-suicidal self-injury also had higher incidences of depression, with 38.2% of girls vs 19.7% of boys reporting feeling sad for 2 or more weeks. 
  • Teens who engaged in self-harm also reported experiencing suicidal thoughts (19.7% of girls vs 10.9% of boys) and had made suicide attempts (10.5% of girls vs 5.7% of boys).
  • Teenagers who reported that they self-harmed were also likely to have experienced forced sexual encounters in the past, with 9.7% of girls and 4.7% of boys reporting such experiences. 
  • Teenagers who had experienced being bullied online were 2.47 times more likely to engage in self-harm than their peers who had not. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

What Is the Hotline for Self-Harm in the U.S.?

In the US, S.A.F.E. Alternatives offers support for individuals who self-injure and can be reached at 1-800-366-8288. For queer-friendly support, you may contact The Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

Why Is Self-Harm Common Among Depressed Teenagers?

Self-harm is common among depressed teenagers because it’s used as a way to cope with overwhelming emotional pain. Many teens use it as a dysfunctional method to express or manage intense feelings like sadness, anxiety, or frustration

Does Cyberbullying Increase Teen Self-Harm Risk?

Yes, the emotional distress caused by cyberbullying can lead to harmful coping behaviors, including self-injury. Monto et.al’s 2018 study titled “Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among a Representative Sample of US Adolescents” showed that teens aged 14 to 18 who experience online bullying are 2.47 times more likely to engage in self-harm compared to those who haven’t been bullied.

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