Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Background: Research has suggested that sexual minority youth are more likely to experience a number of behavioral and health-related risk factors due to their exposure to negative attitudes and beliefs about sexual minorities. Few studies, however, have examined the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among sexual minority youth. With self-cutting and suicidal ideation common in middle and high schools, understanding the antecedents and correlates of such behavior may help identify troubled students and initiate preventative measures.

Methods: Bivariate probit regression analyses are performed using data from 7,326 high school students collected via the Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Results: Results …

While research over the past few decades has illustrated that gender is a significant predictor of victimization, there has been less attention towards explaining these differences. Furthermore, there has been little attention given to how offending and other deviant behaviors contribute to victimization risk for males and females. This is surprising considering that offending, particularly violent behavior, is highly correlated with victimization risk and that males are more likely to offend than females. This study applied cross-sectional and time-ordered models predicting violent victimization and repeat victimization to examine how deviant lifestyles impacted victimization risk for males and females. The results …

In recent years, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents has been identified as alarmingly common place. Some studies have suggested that more than one in eight adolescents have engaged in self-cutting or other self-injuring behaviors. Even more of a concern is that self-injury often foreshadows suicide or suicide attempts. With self-cutting common in middle and high schools, understanding the antecedents and correlates of such behavior may help counselors and others public health officials identify troubled students and initiate preventative measures. This study utilizes data from 2,639 high school students from the Delaware Youth Risk Behavior Survey to investigate the gender differences …