Types of Self-Hurt Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents in Malaysia

elf-hurt among young people has raised a concern internationally (Burns, Dudley, Hazell & Patton, 2005). Many research suggested that self-hurt is growing significantly among young people and is becoming a public health problem in the west. Surveys revealed that adolescents and young adults are at higher risk of engaging in self-hurt behavior (Hoyt, 2002). It is believed that the onset of puberty was an associated factor of self-hurt (Cleaver, 2007) and it usually lasts five to ten years. Malaysia, as a developing country, with a population of 28.25 millions in 2010 has a relatively young population (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2010). Relatively little self-hurt research has been done in Malaysia. Although there were some counseling records found, there is virtually no study that has been designed to identify young people's self-hurt behavior. Thus, this study aims to identify the types of self-hurt behavior that are prevalent among the Chinese adolescents in Malaysia, the categories of severity, the association between age groups and gender in relation to types of self-hurt behavior, and the duration of premeditation before a self-hurt act is committed