Young Irish girls and boys are cutting themselves to relieve the pressure of adolescence.

Three in 10 girls and one in 10 boys have either self-harmed or considered doing so in the past year. One in four kept the incident secret and did not tell anyone.

The figures from a Euro-wide survey, which included Ireland, suggest that existing statistics relating to self-harm could be underestimated.

Disturbingly, the research also found that more than half of self-harmers (59pc) mentioned they "wanted to die".

Drugs

The study also found that one in five cases happened under the influence of alcohol and one in eight under the influence of illegal drugs.

Over all, self-cutting is the most common method of self-harm among both males and females.

Whereas Hungary was the only country studied in which overdosing is the dominant method.

Boys are more likely than girls to use methods that may have more serious outcomes such as self-battery, jumping and hanging

The major Europe-wide study of 30,000 teenagers in seven countries shows that the most common method of self-harm is cutting and most of these acts take place at home.

The teenagers' most common reason for taking the action is "to get relief from a terrible state of mind" followed by a desire "to die".

The study also found that around half of the young people decided to harm themselves in the hour before actually committing the act.

Just over half of those who had harmed themselves during the previous year had done it on at least one other occasion.

The survey was carried out among 15 and 16 year olds who completed anonymous questionnaires at school.

The researchers looked at a number of issues, such as the prevalence of self-harm methods used, reasons given, associations with alcohol and drugs, hospitalisation and whether other people knew.

"This research shows that self-harm is an international, yet often hidden, problem particularly among young girls.

Suicide

"What's needed now is more research into the factors that prevent self-harm thoughts leading to action and the distinctions between those who harm themselves with and without suicidal intent," commented one of the UK researchers, Dr Nicola Madge of London's Brunel University.

The Irish part of this study was carried out by the National Suicide Research Foundation in Cork.

Details of the mental health study are published in the current issue of the prestigious Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

- Clodagh Sheehy