Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, RI, Providence, USA.
Bradley Hasbro Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2021 Apr;49(4):519-531. doi: 10.1007/s10802-020-00734-4. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
The majority of adolescents with psychiatric disorders use social media, engaging in a range of online activities that may confer both risks and benefits. Very little work, however, has examined engagement in online activities related to self-injury among these youth, such as posting about self-injury, viewing self-injury related content, or messaging about self-injury with online or offline friends. This study examined the frequency and types of online self-injury activities in which adolescents engage, perceived functions that these activities serve, and associated risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs). Participants were 589 psychiatrically-hospitalized adolescents (M = 14.88), who completed self-report measures assessing online self-injury activities, perceived functions and consequences of these activities, and SITBs. Results indicated that 43.3% of the sample had engaged in online self-injury activities, that the majority (74.8%) used social networking sites (e.g., Snapchat, Instagram) to do so, and that these activities were significantly more common among sexual and gender minority youth. Adolescents who talked about self-injury with friends met online were more likely to report a history of suicide attempt(s). A latent profile analysis revealed three distinct subgroups of youth based on their perceived functions of engaging in online self-injury activities. Subgroups reporting higher levels of engagement for purposes of identity exploration, self-expression, and aiding recovery were at heightened risk for negative perceived consequences of these activities and reported greater suicidal ideation severity. Findings offer new insights for identifying youth who may be at heightened risk for SITBs in the context of social media use.
大多数有精神疾病的青少年都使用社交媒体，参与各种在线活动，这些活动可能既有风险也有好处。然而，很少有研究关注这些年轻人与自我伤害有关的在线活动的参与情况，例如发布有关自我伤害的内容、查看与自我伤害相关的内容，或与在线或离线朋友交流有关自我伤害的信息。本研究考察了青少年参与的在线自我伤害活动的频率和类型、这些活动所服务的感知功能，以及与自我伤害想法和行为（SITBs）相关的风险。参与者是 589 名住院的精神科青少年（M=14.88），他们完成了自我报告评估，包括在线自我伤害活动、这些活动的感知功能和后果，以及 SITBs。结果表明，43.3%的样本参与了在线自我伤害活动，其中大多数（74.8%）使用社交网络（如 Snapchat、Instagram）进行此类活动，而这些活动在性和性别少数青年中更为常见。与在线朋友谈论自我伤害的青少年更有可能报告有自杀企图的历史。潜在剖面分析根据青少年参与在线自我伤害活动的感知功能，揭示了三个不同的青少年亚组。报告为身份探索、自我表达和帮助康复目的而进行更高水平参与的亚组，对这些活动的负面感知后果的风险更高，并报告了更严重的自杀意念严重程度。研究结果为在社交媒体使用背景下识别可能有更高自杀意念风险的青少年提供了新的见解。
