The Associations Between Children's and Adolescents’ Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviors, and Related Behaviors Within Their Social Networks: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objectives: Social influences -including the suicidal and self-harming behaviours of othershave been highlighted as a risk factor for suicidal and self-harming behaviour in young people, but synthesis of the evidence is lacking. Methods: A systematic review of 86 relevant papers was conducted. Results: Considerable published evidence was obtained for positive associations between young people's suicidal and self-harming behaviour and that of people they know, with those reporting knowing people who had engaged in suicidal or self-harming behaviours more

Depression symptoms as a mediator between social support, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal ideation among Arab adolescents in Israel

“…Based on the current international literature, our first hypothesis (hereafter: H1) was that sense of social support from parents, teachers, and peers would each be negatively associated with NSSI and suicidality (Calati et al., 2019; Quigley et al., 2017); and our second hypothesis (hereafter: H2) was that these associations would be mediated by depression symptoms (Baetens et al., 2015; Plener et al., 2015). The third hypothesis was (hereafter: H3) that each source of support might compensate for the absence of other sources (i.e., high support from once source would moderate the relationships between the other sources with NSSI/suicidal ideation).…”

The Social Norms of Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviours in Scottish Adolescents

“…Alternatively, it may represent a form of optimism bias, whereby the thought of a parent being hurt represents the kind of negative event that individuals believe is unlikely to happen to them [52]. Differential effects on an individual of others dying by suicide, compared to their engagement in other SSHBs, has been noted elsewhere [16]. …”

“…A systematic review of the literature suggests that the SSHB of family, friends, peers and others in children’s and adolescents’ social networks is strongly associated with their own risk of engaging in SSHB [16]. However, research has tended to assume individuals’ accurate knowledge of the behaviour of others, often based on factors such as attendance at the same school or membership of the same family.…”

“…In addition to associations consistently found between SSHB and many of the behaviours to which the Social Norms Approach has already been applied (including alcohol consumption and substance use; e.g., [41,42]), previous work by the current authors (submitted manuscript) suggests that undergraduate students’ SSHB is predicted by their normative perceptions of SSHB. Given that research has identified relationships between children and adolescents’ own SSBH and that of people they know [16], it was considered likely that adolescents’ engagement in SSHB may also be related to their normative perceptions of those behaviours—regardless of the accuracy of those perceptions. Further, young people are particularly susceptible to influence from their social environment [43,44], and evidence suggests that those who are most prone to influence may be at an already heightened risk of engaging in dangerous or risky behaviours [45].…”

Suicidal behavior and self-harm in adolescents: The perspective of the media and social networks

“…Najvažniji nalaz ovog istraživanja, koje je posmatralo karakteristike i ponašanje na društvenim mrežama adolescenata u odnosu na suicidalnost i ponašanje samopovređivanja, je da vreme provedeno na društevnim mrežama statistički zanačajno korelira sa ponašanjem samopovređivanja. Ovaj nalaz je prisutan i u drugim sličnim studijama, tako na primer Quigley u svom radu govori o samopovređivanju kao posledicu identifikacije sa vršnjačkim grupama "on-line" [17], a velika meta-analiza iz 2018. godine ukazuje da su adolescenti koji su ispoljavali ponašanje samopovređivanja aktivniji na "društvenim mrežama" [18]. "On-line" socijalno umrežavanje takođe vodi većoj izloženosti i uključivanju u ponašanje samopovređivanja kroz dobijanje negativnih poruka koje promovišu samopovređivanje, poruka sa auto-destruktivnim ponašanjima, slika i video snimaka drugih korisnika.…”