An examination of racial differences in self-harm behavior

Abstract The prevalence of diverse and multiple self-harm behaviors according to race/ethnicity has been infrequently explored. In the present study, using a cross-sectional design and a self-report survey methodology, we examined the prevalence rates of and statistically significant differences in multiple self-harm behaviors among 200 White and 146 African-American women from an obstetrics/gynecology clinic. Compared with African-American women, we found that White women reported generally higher prevalence rates of self-harm behaviors (20 of 21) and significantly higher percentages with regard to seven specific self-harm behaviors. In addition, we found support that self-harm behavior reflects the same latent construct across both groups.