Deliberate self-harm in adolescence within the context of family system

Main aim of this diploma thesis is to summarize mostly foreign findings concerning deliberate self-harm in adolescence with emphasis on family context. Theoretical part deals with definition, prevalence, functions, course, risk factors and possibilities of prevention and therapy of self-harm. There are also mentioned findings about family system and its possible influence on personality. The research question of empirical part is interested in traits of those families, where adolescent self-harm. Family context is shown both on case studies and on summary based on families of 20 adolescents. These results are in accordance with previous research and also suggest some new characteristics for next verification. Characteristics concerning discordant family relationships (both between parents and between one parent and adolescent) seem to be most important. Majority of respondents feel like their parents are not interested in them at all and are too critical. Almost half of them said that they tried to draw their attention by engaging in risk behavior (including self-harm). There was also high incidence of self-destructive behavior in parents of these adolescents