At least one in 10 16-year-olds in Northern Ireland has seriously considered taking an overdose or self-harming, a new study has found.

Researchers at Queen's University and the University of Ulster surveyed almost 1,400 16-year-olds living throughout Northern Ireland. They found that 13% had given serious consideration to harming themselves or taking an overdose and 6% had though about this in the last month.

Furthermore, 13% of those surveyed admitted to having previously self-harmed - 8% of these had self-harmed more than once. The majority of these (60%) said they had self-harmed because they ‘wanted to punish themselves'.

Meanwhile, the study also found that 28% of the teenagers had experienced serious emotional, personal or mental health problems in the past year, but just one in three had sought professional help for these problems.

A similar survey in 2008 revealed much the same figures and according to the researchers, this shows that despite investment in mental health services in Northern Ireland, ‘there has been virtually no change with regard to young people's experiences of stress and mental health problems'.

"It is particularly significant to note that still only a small minority of 16-year-olds seek professional help when experiencing serious emotional health problems," they noted.

They added that the fact that many young people self-harm in order to ‘punish themselves' suggests that that those with mental health issues blame themselves for this, ‘rather than appreciating external stressors such as pressures arising from school work or financial difficulties'.