Effects of exposure to self-harm on social media: Evidence from a two-wave panel study among young adults. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Arendt, Florian; Scherr, Sebastian; Romer, Daniel
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 21:Number 11/12(2019)
• Page Start: 2422
• Page End: 2442
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: Instagram -- self-harm -- social media -- suicide -- suicide contagion -- Werther effect -- young adults; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444819850106
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth, and media depictions of suicidal behavior can be a contributing risk factor. Of interest, Instagram recently received more scholarly attention due to its large number of publicly available, explicit, and graphic depictions of self-harm. Importantly, researchers have hypothesized that exposure to this content could be a risk for self-harm and suicide in vulnerable audiences. We tested this hypothesis using a two-wave US panel survey among young adults ( N = 729). Analyses indicated that exposure to self-harm on Instagram was associated with suicidal ideation, self-harm, and emotional disturbance even controlling for exposure to other sources with similar content. As hypothesized, exposure to self-harm on Instagram at the first wave prospectively predicted self-harm and suicidality-related outcomes at the second wave 1 month later. These findings provide evidence that such exposure can lead to contagion in vulnerable users. Implications are discussed.