Adolescents’ knowledge of a peer's non‐suicidal self‐injury and own non‐suicidal self‐injury and suicidality

Abstract

Objective Some research suggests that suicidal ideation and attempt among adolescents may be contagious – that is adolescents who are exposed to peers’ suicidal behaviour are more likely to experience suicidal ideation or attempt suicide themselves. Less is known about the potential contagion effect of non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI). Our objective was to determine whether knowledge of a friend's NSSI is associated with adolescent's own non‐suicidal self‐injury and suicidal behaviours. Methods Data from 1483 youth ages 14–17 years were obtained from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study, a cross‐sectional population‐based survey of children and adolescents in Ontario, Canada. Logistic regression models were used to examine associations between knowledge of a friend's NSSI and adolescents’ own self‐reported self‐injurious and suicidal behaviours. Interactions with gender, age group and presence of a mental disorder were investigated. Results Knowledge of a friend's non‐suicidal self‐injury was significantly associated with the adolescent's own non‐suicidal self‐injury (OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.05–3.90), suicidal ideation (OR = 3.08, 95% CI 1.50–6.30) and suicide attempt (OR = 2.87, 95% CI 1.20–6.87). Conclusion These findings suggest an apparent contagion effect for non‐suicidal self‐injury. Awareness of a friend's self‐injurious behaviours is associated with an adolescent's own self‐injury and suicidality. Interventions aimed at preventing NSSI and suicidality should consider prevention of possible contagion at the school and/or community level.

Deviant Peer Affiliation and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Chinese Adolescents: Depression as a Mediator and Sensation Seeking as a Moderator

“…Therefore, depression is a possible explanatory mechanism that might explain why adolescents with deviant peer affiliation are more likely to engage in NSSI. Our results are consistent with those of other studies that have reported that deviant peer affiliation and depression increased the risk of engaging NSSI [17,21]. Depression has also been found to mediate the relationship between peer acceptance and NSSI [22].…”

“…Finally, in addition to finding evidence of both parts of the proposed mediation model, the results also showed that adolescent depression significantly mediated the link between deviant peer affiliation and NSSI. This finding further deepens and enriches the findings from a small number of studies that tested this association [16,17]. In addition, this research provides a basis for intervention to prevent and reduce adolescent NSSI.…”

“…According to the social learning hypothesis of NSSI [1], adolescents may learn to engage in this risky behavior by observing their friends' behavior. In line with this theory, deviant peer affiliation has been shown to be related to a higher likelihood of adolescent NSSI [16,17]. The above theory and empirical research results highlight the possibility that deviant peer affiliation is a potential risk factor for adolescent NSSI.…”

“…Despite deviant peer affiliation having been identified as a risk factor for adolescents' NSSI [11,16,17], no research to date has examined the mechanisms of this effect or factors that might ameliorate or exacerbate it. Guided by the integrated theoretical model of the development and maintenance of NSSI [18] and the social development model of delinquency prevention [19], this study tested whether depression mediated the relationship between deviant peer affiliation and NSSI, and whether this mediating effect was moderated by youth's sensation seeking.…”

Predictors and consequences of non‐suicidal self‐injury in relation to life, peer, and school factors

“…This applies especially to younger children (van Geel, Goemans, & Vedder, 2015) and bully-victims who have been rejected by their peers (Esposito et al, 2019). Further, there is some evidence that knowing a friend who engages in NSSI is associated with increased risk of engaging in NSSI (Hasking, Andrews, & Martin, 2013;Syed, Kingsbury, Bennett, Manion, & Colman, 2020). However, exposure to NSSI by peers in itself is not suficient to encourage an individual to self-injure (Hasking et al, 2013).…”