Table 2 Why stop? Attribution categories, sub-themes, and examples
Category/subtheme (% of all respondents with this as a primary or secondary code) | Example |
|---|---|
Connection with others (36 %) | |
Positive connections 23.9 % | “I entered into a loving relationship” |
“Some of my high school friends were really concerned about what they knew, and talking to them helped a lot” | |
Negative effect on cared for others 5.2 % | “I stopped because of the people that loved me at the time. I wasn’t just hurting myself, but I was hurting the people that cared about me. That was hard for me to understand, but once it clicked I was done.” |
Removal of negative relationships 6.9 % | “Space away from family/frustration.” |
“I moved away from the cause – my parents.” | |
Professional/Therapeutic Support (7.4 %) | “Through the program of recovery that I follow for my substance abuse problem (AA) and through the assistance of my therapist/psychiatrist, I have learned that I am not alone in those feelings and have been shown real solutions for the uncomfortable feelings I have.” |
Emotion Regulation (62.6 %) | |
Self-awareness 38.7 % | “I also developed more of a sense of proportion: by which I mean, firstly, that I started to realize that however bad I feel, it’s probable that I’ll feel better at some point in future, and that I should the not act in ways that might permanently diminish my happiness; and secondly, that my emotional distress is minor in comparison to that of many other people.” |
“I gained self-esteem and wasn’t so hard on myself anymore” | |
Coping skills (tools/behaviors or direct differences) 23.9 % | “I realized I could cope with my emotions in less destructive ways.” |
“I practice martial arts and work out to focus my mind, being able to spar with someone else helps too.” | |
Life circumstances changed (10.7 %) | “I am happy with my life now, there is no reason for me to be nervous or scared or angry all the time” |
Fear of consequences (14.2 %) | |
Environmental/Social 3.5 % | “The school made an official policy against the scars and penalized students for doing so. This is when I stopped doing it.” |
Physical effects 10.7 % | “I cut too deeply and scared myself.” |
“I don’t want to have scars; they’re ugly.” | |
Maturity (26.9 %) | “I grew out of it and realized I didn’t need attention that badly.” |
“Most of it I attribute to maturing, to growing out of the raging hormones of adolescence.” | |
Minimal life effects (15.7 %) | “It doesn’t really matter to me that much whether I do it again or not. Now I don’t ever feel the need to, but I wasn’t addicted and I had no serious incidents.” |