In one of the few longitudinal population studies to examine the course of self harm, Moran et al10 found that risk declined during late adolescence, with most adolescents who self harmed reporting no further acts in adulthood. Other longitudinal studies have focused on suicidal self harm (suicide attempts) in adolescence and report associations with a range of adverse outcomes in adulthood, including an increased risk of psychiatric disorder, substance misuse, and future self harm.11 12 However, suicide attempts comprise a relatively small proportion of self harm acts, and the longer term outcomes associated with non-suicidal self harm are not known.
