An increasing number of teens and young adults are performing a shocking form of brutality: cutting. Also called self-injury, cutting involves slashing or otherwise injuring oneself. Numbers are hard to pin down, but a cross section of society gives us a good idea of the extent of the problem: Recent studies show as many as 10 percent of teenage girls in England and 17 percent of college students at Cornell and Princeton in the United States are involved in some form of self-injury. A quick Google search turns up myriad support groups, message boards and forums devoted to cutting.

Why are youths doing this? Why do they feel like harming themselves, in some cases to the point of addiction? Health officials call it an unhealthy coping mechanism—a misguided attempt to seek release from life’s pressures. The cause—even in this age of e-mail, instant messaging and cell phones—is often a feeling of isolation, being left out. The nhsHealth Encyclopedia explains,

It is understood that in most cases of those who self-harm, it is because they have gone through a very difficult time as a child or young adult. … People who self-harm often describe feelings of numbness or deadness or they may feel detached from reality, as if they are not part of the world.

Why do these teens feel isolated, detached, left out, not a part of the world? It is always important to look to causes, rather than merely effects, in such cases.

God intends family to be the main support structure for young people as they grow up. The biblical model is one of parents being deeply involved in their children’s lives—loving, instructing and disciplining in love (e.g. Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Luke 15:11-31; Ephesians 6:4); and at the same time, children honoring and obeying their parents (Ephesians 6:1-2).

Western culture, by stark contrast, barrages us with anti-family messages. In far too many cases, materialism, independence, personal privacy, moral relativism and other values that saturate modern life all take precedence over family. Thus, marriages suffer and splinter, and the gap dividing generations appears unbridgeable. Parents prioritize careers or personal pursuits over family; children turn to peers more than they do parents.

Some young people feel increasingly ostracized from their families as they enter their teen years. Cutters, who are primarily young people, often feel they are alone, facing a world full of negative influences, unable to approach their parents for support (as one cutter reasoned, “I didn’t want to burden my mom with my problems”). Parents are too busy or not even present. These young people can begin to wonder if anyone cares about their problems, or if they even exist.

While cutting is a sign of a very violent force in society, it is also a powerful symptom of an ailing family life.

While an increasing number of families are dealing with problems like cutting, you don’t have to. The path to stronger families is revealed in the Instruction Book provided us by the Designer and Maker of family, Almighty God. If you would like to learn more, consider beginning your study by reading our booklet Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete?