ABSTRACT
There are currently no reliable estimates of the prevalence of self-injury among adolescent population. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of self-injury among a sample of 10 grade male students in Tabriz city and to evaluate the associated factors such as demographic and risk taking behaviors. Of all grade-10 male students in Tabriz, 1772 were randomly sampled. A self- administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, self-injury, substance abuse, general risk taking behavior and friends smoking. The influence of different factors on self-injury was evaluated with a logistic regression model. Among 1772 students 76 [4.3%, CI 95%: 3.4-5.3] had self- injury. Eight [10.5%] of them were carving, 4 [5.3%] burning, 9[11.8%] hitting, 27[35.5%] cutting, 7[9.2%] tattooing, 5[6.6%] skin picking and 17[22.4%] bruising. The results indicate that, ever alcohol use [OR= 1.52], having smoker friend [OR= 2.54] and higher smoking stage [OR= 1.85] were factors associated with student's self-injury. This study has shown low prevalence of self-injury and determined some of its risk factors among students. More studies about adolescent population are necessary to approve the observed results of this study and thus allow for a certain generalization of the observations