Social networks associated with self-inflicted injuries in children and adolescents
The exposure of children and adolescents to social media is significantly associated with an increased risk of self-harm behaviours , with mild to moderate severity, warns a study released this Friday by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP).
A team of researchers examined dozens of studies carried out in different regions of the world, namely in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and China, and concluded that social networks are associated with self-inflicted injuries, although a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be discussed.
The final study was published in April and, in a statement, FMUP quotes the authors, according to whom “ there has been an increase in cases of children and adolescents who intentionally inflict harm on themselves , for example through cuts, scratches or blows, usually in accessible and easily hidden areas of the body, such as wrists, arms, stomach and legs”. This is considered a public health problem in adolescence.
These self-injurious behaviours are “ a mechanism to relieve negative and difficult-to-deal with emotions (such as anger or anxiety), express distress, punish oneself or, more rarely, punish other people .”
At the same time, researchers warn that the use of social networks, such as TikTok and Instagram, has grown, which has changed the way young people relate to each other and the world around them, from increasingly early ages.
Published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, this work concluded that there is an association between exposure to social networks and self-harm behaviors in children and young people between the ages of 9 and 24 , whether in a psychiatric hospital setting or in the community.
The results point to a possible “social contagion effect” and “imitation” of social networks on the behavior of younger people, with children and young people admitting that they followed online platforms with posts about self-harm before they also did so.
“The possibility of a contagion effect remains an open question, as does the causality of the association between social networks and self-harm behavior ,” the researchers point out, however, for whom “causality cannot be generalized for now.”
The authors suggest that studies be carried out to analyse the experiences and perspectives of children and young people over time, in order to understand, for example, whether self-harm occurs before or after watching or participating in such content on social media.
They also suggest that children and young people’s self-reporting be supplemented with available technology, in order to objectively track the time they spend on social media and study the importance of the number of hours of exposure and the role of gender.
This work is signed by Luís Guilherme Spínola and Irene Carvalho, from FMUP, as well as Cláudia Calaboiça, from the Psychology Center of the University of Porto (CPUP).
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that problematic use of social media is on the rise among young Europeans, who are also more likely to develop a gambling addiction .
“We need immediate and sustained action to help adolescents stop potentially harmful use of social media, which has been shown to lead to depression, bullying, anxiety and poor academic performance ,” WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said in a statement.
In 2022, 11% of adolescents (13% of girls and 9% of boys) showed signs of problematic social media use, compared with just 7% four years earlier, according to data obtained from 280,000 young people aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 countries in Europe, Central Asia and Canada.
The symptoms are similar to those of drug addiction: inability to control excessive use, feelings of giving up and abandoning other activities in favor of social networks, and negative consequences in daily life .