Understanding self-harm urges and behavior amongst non-binary young adults: A grounded theory study

Abstract

Introduction

This study aims to gain a greater understanding of self-harm amongst non-binary young adults and what helps to manage these urges.

Method

Data were collected from 11 participant interviews and analyzed in line with grounded theory principles.

Results

Findings highlighted how factors associated with growing up feeling outside of the binary, family discord, and the pain of living in a cisnormative society were associated with self-harm. Results describe what helps to manage self-harm and the impact of COVID-19.

Conclusion

Findings extend existing research and offer clinical implications and highlight a need for increased understanding and acceptance of non-binary identities.

Keywords:

• Non-binary
• self-harm
• qualitative
• grounded theory
• mental health

Ethics statement

Ethical approval and research governance was obtained for the study from the University of Manchester research ethics committee in March 2020 (Ref: 2020-7842-13735) (Appendix A1).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the University of Manchester and was completed as part of a doctoral thesis.