TOKYO, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A Japanese mental health institute has conducted the first survey about teenage wrist-cutting and other forms of self-injury.
Although reports had surfaced of wrist-cutting at Japanese schools, this survey is the first to confirm the reports, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Monday.
The survey was conducted among 126 second-year students at a girls' high school, and 477 second- and third-year students at a public junior high school in Kanagawa prefecture.
Among the female high-schoolers, 14.3 percent said they had purposely injured themselves at least once, while 6.3 percent said they had done so at least 10 times.
At the junior high school 9.3 percent of female students and 8 percent of male students said they had cut themselves with blades.
When asked why they had injured themselves, various answers were given, such as to escape feelings of anger or as an expression that they were seeking help.
