Juvenile offenders have a number of factors that contribute to their delinquency including family dysfunction, substance abuse, negative peers, and limited education and employment opportunities. The focus for juvenile delinquency research has historically been focused on the youth's behavior in the community and crimes against the "public". The behavior of the youth while in the custody of the juvenile justice system is critically important to the safety of all youth. Self-mutilation by youth in juvenile justice custody is a behavior that elicits fear, frustration and consternation from staff. The incidence rate in juvenile settings and possible indicators that may influence a youth to self-mutilate have had limited attention from researchers and none from the State of Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The purpose of this dissertation research is to explore self-mutilation to determine if specific aspects of demographics, substance abuse, mental health or criminal behavior influence the likelihood of self-mutilating. A purposive, non-random sample was obtained (N=261) composed of youth residing in juvenile detention and residential programs in the State of Florida. Incident reports of self-harm were collected over a six-month period and examined by two raters. The incidents were classified into three categories, angry/impulsive self-harm, self-mutilation, and suicidal behavior. Far fewer than expected reports of self-mutilation were found. Subtle differences were found between the three groups using chi square, ANOVA and logistic regression analyses. Specific variables that appeared to influence group membership included race, program type (detention or residential), mental health issues and substance abuse. / A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Social Work in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2005. / August 2, 2005. / Juvenile Justice, Adolescence, Suicide, Self-Harm, Self-Mutilation / Includes bibliographical references. / C. Aaron McNeece, Professor Directing Dissertation; Marc Gertz, Outside Committee Member; Bruce Thyer, Committee Member; Laura Bedard, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176408 |
| Contributors | Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique E. (authoraut), McNeece, C. Aaron (professor directing dissertation), Gertz, Marc (outside committee member), Thyer, Bruce (committee member), Bedard, Laura (committee member), College of Social Work (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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