مواجهه با وب سایت هایی که تشویق به خودآسیبی و خودکشیمیکنن: نرخ شیوع و ارتباط با افکار واقعی خودآسیبی و افکار خودکشی در ایالات متحده

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.

Conclusion In the United States, a notable minority of youth are currently accessing websites that encourage self-harm or suicide – 1% of a national sample of Internet-using youth. This is far less than the 16% of youth and young adults who seriously consider attempting suicide in the same timeframe (Child Trends Data Bank, 2014). There is an association, however, between accessing such sites and actual thoughts of self-harm or suicide. Professionals are encouraged to assess the use of technology in their young clients who present with thoughts of self-harm, thoughts of suicide, or depressive symptomatology. Such knowledge might also serve as an opportunity for providing treatment options through professional websites that have been vetted and deemed supportive of recovery.