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The presence of deliberate self-harm (DSH) among adolescents in Guanajuato State in 2003 was identified by sex, age, educational attainment and health jurisdiction and the characteristics were described by sex according to number of times, age of only/first/last DSH, motive, method, purpose and death wish. The sample design was stratified, bistage and by conglomerates. A total of 2,530 students from high school affiliated to the University of Guanajuato participated. The results showed that 3.1% of males and 10.7% of females had engaged in at least one episode of DSH; age of first DSH was 13 in both males and females; age at last DSH was 13 in males and 14 in females. The characteristics of the DSH were also described.
Keywords: adolescents, deliberate self-harm, epidemiology, Mexico, suicidal behavior.
In Mexico, nearly 20% of its 97,483,412 inhabitants are aged between 10 and 19 (INEGI, 2000). In 2003, the population in Guanajuato state was 4,663,032, of whom 501,053 (10.7%) were teenagers between 15 and 19, with a male: female ratio of nearly 1:1 (INEGI, 2000). A total of 20.9% of this adolescent population was enrolled in senior high school, which also includes technical high school (SEG; 2001). Guanajuato is a state in Mexico with a large migratory flow towards the counties of California, Alabama and Florida. It is estimated that one out of every eight inhabitants born in Guanajuato is currently living in the USA (CONAPO, 2002). They emigrate at an increasingly early age (the average being 16) in comparison with previous generations (who did so at an average age of 20). Males are predominantly employed as farm labor since females between the ages of 18 and 20 emigrate when they have an adult female relative living there, or when their fathers obtain residence, or as the wives of migrants (Contreras, 1993). Given this demographic outlook, the study of the problem of Mexican teenagers is crucial, since improved knowledge of their situation is the only thing that will enable suitable public health policies to be proposed and implemented.
THE PROBLEM OF SUICIDE
Several disciplines have sought to explore the reasons behind this type of behavior in order to attempt to understand it, by distinguishing various stages that are part of a dynamic process, rather than...