Globally, adolescent self-harm rates remain high, while help-seeking behaviour remains low. School staff are in a position to facilitate access to appropriate care for young people who self-harm (YPS-H), but little is known about gatekeepers’ attributions of self-harm or whether these attributions influence the support they provide. This study investigates the perceived functions of self-harm reported by potential gatekeepers and examines how these compare to the self-reported functions of self-harm in young people; 386 students from postgraduate teaching (n = 111), school counselling (n = 37), and undergraduate psychology (n = 238) programs completed a survey regarding their beliefs about YPS-H, which included the Inventory of Statements about Self-Harm. Responses were compared to those of 281 young people attending treatment at a suicide prevention program who completed the same measure. Preservice teachers, school counsellors and psychology students endorsed all functions of self-harm at a higher rate than treatment-seeking young people themselves. In particular, they endorsed interpersonal functions to a greater extent than the clinical reference group. The potential effect of greater endorsement of interpersonal influence as a function of self-harm gatekeeper’s responding to YPS-H is discussed.

在全球范围内，青少年自残率仍然很高，而寻求帮助的行为仍然很低。学校工作人员能够帮助自残的年轻人 (YPS-H) 获得适当的护理，但对于看门人对自残的归因或这些归因是否影响他们提供的支持知之甚少。本研究调查了潜在看门人报告的自我伤害的感知功能，并检验了这些与年轻人自我报告的自我伤害功能的比较；386 名学生来自研究生教学（n = 111）、学校咨询（n = 37）和本科心理学（n= 238) 项目完成了一项关于他们对 YPS-H 的看法的调查，其中包括关于自我伤害的陈述清单。将反应与 281 名在自杀预防计划中接受治疗并完成相同测量的年轻人的反应进行比较。职前教师、学校辅导员和心理学专业的学生比寻求治疗的年轻人更认可自我伤害的所有功能。特别是，他们比临床参照组更认可人际关系功能。讨论了作为自我伤害看门人对 YPS-H 的响应函数，更大程度地认可人际影响的潜在影响。