Exploring leisure factors leading to self-harm among Yazdian female students

Leisure time is a significant issue in the lives of adolescents today as they are currently the main focus of business and entertainment. Ignoring this important issue can have many negative consequences. The present study used grounded theory approach to carry out the research on all female students living in Yazd with a history of self-harm. In order to collect the data, the purposeful sampling process was used until the saturation stage was reached, and finally 23 female high school students were interviewed about self-harm during leisure times. The collected data were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding and presented in the form of a story line (including 18 main categories and 1 core category) and a paradigm model. The results of data analysis showed categories such as the difficulty of happiness in Yazd, father-child longing, recreation, depressing entertainment, effects of cyberspace, acquaintance with the opposite sex in social-virtual contexts, minimal media literacy of parents, lifestyle, and the imposition and simpleness of cyberspace led to the emergence of the central phenomenon of research. As a result, adolescents in such an unsuitable leisure environment perform certain behaviors such as popular freedom, seeking alternatives, and a sense of social indifference. It is associated with certain consequences such as gender failure, dysfunction of virtual dependence, disinterest in the homeland, and seeking guilts of others. Leisure difficulties lead to situations in which families find their functions lost and are unable to make positive changes