The Association Between Media Exposure to Non Suicidal Self-Injury and Emergency Department Visits for Self-Harm

Study on Awareness of Suicide and Suicide Prevention Among Community Youth

Objectives

South Korea has the highest suicide rate among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries; there is an increasing trend in suicide attempts among middle and high school students. Various factors contribute to the risk of suicide among adolescents, and the perception of suicide prevention has emerged as a significant factor. This study aimed to investigate the association between emotional and behavioral difficulties among middle and high school students and their perceptions of suicide prevention and to explore differences in suicide perception according to age.

Methods

A survey was conducted among community middle and high school students, including 530 participants, between 2020 and 2021. Emotional and behavioral difficulties were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Korean version, and participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on the importance and possibility of suicide prevention. A correlation test and analysis of variance were used to examine the relationships between the variables, and suicide awareness was compared according to age.

Results

The participants who displayed higher strength or lower difficulty were more likely to respond positively to suicide prevention measures. They also exhibited high strength and low difficulty levels, thus agreeing with the importance of suicide prevention. Regarding age-related perceptions of suicide, adults aged 20-29 years reported the lowest probability of suicide prevention.

Conclusion

Suicide perceptions influence the incidence of suicide. Therefore, active societal engagement through suicide prevention campaigns and related education is essential to improve such perceptions. Continuous attention and support are required to address this issue.

Editorial: Modeling and Fantasy Rehearsal: From Self-Injury to Self-Efficacy

Trendy depictions of nonsuicidal self-injury in the media appear to promote real-life self-injury, according to an analysis by Lee and colleagues1, published in this issue. The researchers studied rates of emergency visits to all hospitals in Korea for self-injury, before and after video broadcasts disseminated a song called "Barcode." The song compared parallel cuts on the forearm to the barcodes used at checkout counters; an appealing protagonist glamorized self-injury. The timing of increases in rates of self-injury supported the hypothesis that the song engendered imitation -- that social contagion can be fostered by the mass media. In response to this finding, editorial comment places this article in the context of vast amounts of other research on the role of modeling (a.k.a. imitation learning) and fantasy rehearsal (a.k.a. imaginal practice) as general principles of human learning and behavior. Numerous scientists have documented the role of imitation learning, both before and after seminal studies by Albert Bandura. Research strongly contradicts the "catharsis hypothesis" and supports social learning theory's predictions that symbolically enacting aggressive actions does not "get anger out" or "release aggression," but provides practice that promotes behaviors in the same response class. A large set of studies supports the conclusion that media violence tends to increase real-life aggression. Fantasy rehearsal has been used to produce results similar to real-life practice for skills in sports, surgery, dance, musical performance, anxiety reduction, anger control, social skills, and cognitive restructuring. Nonetheless, the idea that media models and technology-assisted fantasy rehearsal have real-life effects has been forcefully disputed, and thus research such as the present study on "Barcode" must continue. But this editorial declares that the time has come when the available evidence demands energetically and systematically finding, creating, and harnessing positive models and positive fantasy rehearsal methods in the service of healthy psychological functioning. It declares that such a time arrived long ago.