An investigation of the self in adolescents that deliberately self-harm and research portfolio

Kirkpatrick, Fiona A (2006) An investigation of the self in adolescents that deliberately self-harm and research portfolio. D Clin Psy thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of self-complexity (Linville, 1987) and selfdiscrepancy (Higgins, 1987) in adolescents who deliberately self-harm (DSH). It was hypothesised that adolescents who DSH would have significantly larger self-discrepancies and lower levels of self-complexity than psychiatric and community controls. Fifteen adolescents who had self-harmed in the past month, fifteen adolescents with a psychiatric diagnosis and fifteen control participants (both control groups had never self-harmed) completed Repertory Grids to assess discrepancies among self-domains (actual, ideal, ought) and Linville's ( 1987) card sorting task to assess levels of self-complexity. Adolescents who self-harmed displayed larger discrepancies between the actual-ideal, actual-ought and ideal-ought domains of the self than community controls. Discrepancies in these self-domains did not significantly differ between psychiatric controls and adolescents who self-harmed. However, when levels of depression were entered as a covariate, between group differences became non-significant, with the exception of ideal-ought discrepancies. Levels of self-complexity did not significantly differ between groups. These results are discussed in reference to Baumeister's (1990) theory of suicide and study limitations are highlighted.

• Item Type: Thesis (D Clin Psy)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Clinical psychology, Therapy, Mental health
• Date of Award: 2006
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2006-74241
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2019 15:33
• Last Modified: 23 Sep 2019 15:33
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/74241