Self Harm

Participants in the BrainWaves Cohort study were asked “Have you ever deliberately self-harmed (for example by taking an overdose or injuring yourself on purpose in some way)?”

The graphs show the distribution of responses to this question about self-harm, and split by sex, on the first occasion that they completed the BrainWaves Cohort Study questionnaire.

The overall responses show that 28.3% of people responded that they had deliberately self-harmed, with this percentage being much higher for females (36.8%) than for males (15.2%)

The BrainWaves Cohort Study has collected responses from over 24,000 people aged 16-18 in schools across the UK, over three time points in 2024 and 2025.