Exposure to websites that encourage self-harm and suicide: Prevalence rates and association with actual thoughts of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in the United States.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Abstract
This article provides 12-month prevalence rates of youth exposure to websites which encourage self-harm or suicide and examines whether such exposure is related to thoughts of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in the past 30 days. Data were collected via telephone from a nationally representative survey of 1560 Internet-using youth, ages 10-17 residing in the United States. One percent (95% CI: 0.5%, 1.5%) of youth reported visiting a website that encouraged self-harm or suicide. Youth who visited such websites were seven times more likely to say they had thought about killing themselves; and 11 times more likely to think about hurting themselves, even after adjusting for several known risk factors for thoughts of self-harm and thoughts of suicide. Given that youth thinking about self-harm and suicide are more likely to visit these sites, they may represent an opportunity for identification of youth in need of crisis intervention.
Details
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Organisations | |
Research areas and keywords | Subject classification (UKÄ) – MANDATORY
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Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1335-1344 |
Journal | Journal of Adolescence |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 8 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Publication category | Research |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |