Suicide and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury From Internet Addiction Among Korean Adolescents

"Swipe & slice": decoding digital struggles with non-suicidal self-injuries among youngsters

Introduction

Nonsuicidal-self-injury (NSSI)-related content recently emerged on social networking sites (SNS), despite its relationship with NSSI conducts is still unclear.

Methods

Hence, the current population-based cross-sectional study investigated the interplay between SNS use, NSSI content engagement, risky social media challenges (RSMCs), in a sample of 404 young adults (aged 18-24), focusing on the influence of problematic social media use (PSMU) and fear of missing out (FoMO).

Results

Around 51.5% of the samplewas engaged inNSSI-related contents on SNS, being mostly females (p<0.001), younger (p=0.005), transgender people and nonbinary people (p=0.030) and those who displayed higher PSMU (p<0.001) or FoMO (p=0.031). Around 66.2% of the sample currently practice NSSIs, predominantly among females (p<0.001), those using BeReal (p=0.012), actively looking for NSSIrelated contents on SNS (p<0.001) to be part of a group (p=0.0025) or learn how to practice NSSI (p=0.025). PSMU (p<0.001) and FoMO (p<0.001) emerged as significant predictors of NSSI content engagement, particularly among active seekers. NSSI conducts were significantly predicted by FoMO (p<0.001) and Snapchat (p=0.044), while negatively predicted by male sex (p<0.001), higher educational level (p=0.019) and age at which NSSI-related contents were firstly looked for (p=0.028).

Discussion

These findings underline the need to implement preventivepolicies and targeted interventions to monitor NSSI-related contents on SNS, the impact of PSMU and FoMO on NSSI, particularly among youngsters.

Effect of the peripartum depressive symptoms on the Internet use disorder of their offspring in late childhood: retrospective longitudinal study

Internet use disorder (IUD) is an emerging social and mental health concern. This study aimed to analyze the relative risk of IUD in late childhood among children whose mothers experienced peripartum depressive symptoms. This study included 762 participants (397 boys and 365 girls) and was conducted in 2017 (aged 9) and 2019 (aged 11). We analyzed the adjusted relative risk of being at high risk for IUD based on whether the mother experienced depressive symptoms during pregnancy or one month after delivery. We also considered the persistence of depressed mood for 4 months after delivery and the severity of peripartum depressive symptoms. From 2017, 20.7% of boys and 14.0% of girls were at high risk of developing IUD. Compared to the non-peripartum depressive group, girls whose mothers experienced peripartum depressive symptoms and those that persisted for 4 months were 1.084 and 1.124 times more likely to be at high risk of IUD (95% confidence interval = 1.005-1.170 and 1.013-1.248), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences among boys. Peripartum depressed mood could be one of risk factors of IUD. IUD needs to be monitored in children whose mothers experienced peripartum depressive symptoms.