Publication

Journal	Nervenheilkunde
Volume (Issue)	1(2)
Page(s)	45 - 53
Title of proceedings	Nervenheilkunde

Non-suicidal self-injury is a widely-spread behaviour among adolescents. The high prevalence implies that there are different subgroups of people who engage in non-suicidal self-injury. For one part of the adolescents the non-suicidal self-injury is probably a transitory episode, but for others it can be an indication for severe psychopathology and for the development of a personality disorder. The actual discussion about the dimensional diagnostic in personality disorders on one side and the consequent assigning of this diagnosis in adolescence on the other side underlines the request of a screening instrument for personality disorders in persons with non-suicidal self-injury. Several studies with adults suggest that Cloninger’s temperament and character model could make an important contribution to the identification of personality disorders. Therefore, the youth version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI) was used in a sample of 447 pupils with an average of 15 years of age (48 % female, M = 14,95 years, SD = 0,74). The aim was to test in what way the adolescents with and without non-suicidal self-injury differ in their temperament and character traits. The results indicate that the adolescents who engaged in non-suicidal self-injury show significant lower self-directedness, which covers with results from the studies with adults. For further conclusions about the prognostic validity the JTCI should also be used in longitudinal studies with a non-suicidal self-injurious and child and adolescent psychiatric population with and without personality disorders.