Digital Self-Harm Among Adolescents - a literature review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2025.82.60375Keywords
Digital Self-Harm, Self-Harm, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, AdolescentsAbstract
Introduction:
Digital self-harm (DSH) is a newly identified phenomenon in which adolescents anonymously publish hurtful content targeting their own person online. It is often associated with difficulties regulating emotions and the need for social validation. The phenomenon is more common among those belonging to minority groups, such as LGBTQ+ youth and those with disabilities. Digital self-harm can act as a marker of serious emotional disturbance and be a signal of suicide risk.
Materials and Methods:
Literature review was conducted using databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar, with search terms including “digital self-harm”, “fictitious online victimization”, “non-suicidal self-injury”,, “adolescents”.
Conclusions:
DSH remains an under-recognized phenomenon, despite growing research interest. It shows similarities with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), but its digital specificity suggests the need to separate it as a separate clinical category. At present, there is no unified theoretical framework or effective treatments - it is not known whether the interventions used for NSSI are equally effective in the context of DSH. It should be noted that research on DSH remains methodologically and geographically limited. Analyses that include European cultural and social perspectives are lacking. There is an urgent need for in-depth qualitative research to understand the motivations and psychological mechanisms surrounding this phenomenon. Educating teachers, parents and mental health professionals on how to recognize and respond to DSH behavior should become an integral part of public health policy.
References
1. Patchin JW, Hinduja S. Digital Self-Harm Among Adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2017;61(6):761-766. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.06.012
2. Patchin JW, Hinduja S, Meldrum RC. Digital self-harm and suicidality among adolescents. Child Adolesc Ment Health. 2023;28(1):52-59. doi:10.1111/camh.12574
3. Erreygers S, Symons M, Vandebosch H, Pabian S. Fictitious online victimization: Exploration and creation of a measurement instrument. New Media Soc. 2022;24(1):156-177. doi:10.1177/1461444820960079
4. Englander EK. Digital Self-Harm: Frequency, Type, Motivations, and Outcomes. MARC Research Reports. 2012;(5). https://vc.bridgew.edu/marc_reports/5
5. Patchin JW, Hinduja S. Adolescent digital self-harm over time: prevalence and perspectives. J Sch Violence. 2024;23(4):542-554. doi:10.1080/15388220.2024.2349566
6. Wang J, Wei Z, Jia L, et al. Can digital self-harm relate to suicidal thoughts and behaviors beyond physical self-harm? Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2024;149(3):235-244. doi:10.1111/acps.13658
7. Pacheco E, Melhuish N, Fiske J. Digital Self-Harm: Prevalence, Motivations and Outcomes for Teens Who Cyberbully Themselves. SSRN Electron J. 2019. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3374725
8. Qi J, Yan Y, Yin H. Screen time among school-aged children of aged 6-14: a systematic review. Glob Health Res Policy. 2023;8(1):12. doi:10.1186/s41256-023-00297-z
9. Azem L, Al Alwani R, Lucas A, et al. Social Media Use and Depression in Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Behav Sci (Basel). 2023;13(6):475. doi:10.3390/bs13060475
10. Primack BA, Shensa A, Sidani JE, et al. Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(1):1-8. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.010
11. Twenge JM, Campbell WK. Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Prev Med Rep. 2018;12:271-283. doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003
12. Khalaf AM, Alubied AA, Khalaf AM, Rifaey AA. The Impact of Social Media on the Mental Health of Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2023;15(8):e42990. doi:10.7759/cureus.42990
13. Best P, Manktelow R, Taylor B. Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2014;41:27-36. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001
14. O'Reilly M, Dogra N, Hughes J, Reilly P, George R, Whiteman N. Potential of social media in promoting mental health in adolescents. Health Promot Int. 2019;34(5):981-991. doi:10.1093/heapro/day056
15. Soengkoeng R, Moustafa AA. Fictitious online victimization: Exploration and creation of a measurement instrument. Discover Psychol. 2022;2(1):19. doi:10.1007/s44202-022-00032-8
16. Shao DS, Seigfried-Spellar KC. Digital self-harm: Examining emotionally unstable personality traits and non-suicidal self-injury as predictors. Annu Rev CyberTher Telemed. 2023;21:124.
17. Lydecker JA, Grilo CM, Hamilton A, Barnes RD. Digital self-harm is associated with disordered eating behaviors in adults. Eat Weight Disord. 2022;27(6):2129-2136. doi:10.1007/s40519-021-01355-6
18. Lewis SP, Heath NL. Nonsuicidal self-injury. CMAJ. 2013;185(6):505. doi:10.1503/cmaj.120969
19. Kerr PL, Muehlenkamp JJ, Turner JM. Nonsuicidal self-injury: a review of current research for family medicine and primary care physicians. J Am Board Fam Med. 2010;23(2):240-259. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2010.02.090110
20. Klonsky ED, Glenn CR, Styer DM, Olino TM, Washburn JJ. The functions of nonsuicidal self-injury: converging evidence for a two-factor structure. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2015;9:44. doi:10.1186/s13034-015-0073-4
21. Klonsky ED. The functions of self-injury in young adults who cut themselves: clarifying the evidence for affect-regulation. Psychiatry Res. 2009;166(2-3):260-268. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2008.02.008
22. Klonsky ED. The functions of deliberate self-injury: a review of the evidence. Clin Psychol Rev. 2007;27(2):226-239.
23. Lloyd-Richardson EE, Perrine N, Dierker L, Kelley ML. Characteristics and functions of non-suicidal self-injury in a community sample of adolescents. Psychol Med. 2007;37(8):1183-1192. doi:10.1017/S003329170700027X
24. Schwartz-Mette RA, Lawrence HR. Peer Socialization of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents' Close Friendships. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2019;47(11):1851-1862. doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00569-8
25. Moreno MA, Ton A, Selkie E, Evans Y. Secret Society 123: Understanding the Language of Self-Harm on Instagram. J Adolesc Health. 2016;58(1):78-84. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.09.015
26. Nock MK, Borges G, Bromet EJ, Cha CB, Kessler RC, Lee S. Suicide and suicidal behavior. Epidemiol Rev. 2008;30(1):133-154. doi:10.1093/epirev/mxn002
27. World Health Organization. Preventing Suicide: A Resource Series. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/preventing-suicide-a-resource-series
28. Kokkevi A, Rotsika V, Arapaki A, Richardson C. Adolescents' self-reported suicide attempts, self-harm thoughts and their correlates across 17 European countries. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2012;53(4):381-389. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02457.x
29. Hawton K, Saunders KE, O'Connor RC. Self-harm and suicide in adolescents. Lancet. 2012;379(9834):2373-2382. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60322-5
30. Song J, Hong SH, Kim J, Chang S, Yook KH, Hong HJ. Comparison of Suicide Attempts and Suicide Deaths by Jumping from a High Place in Korean Children and Adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(18):9513. doi:10.3390/ijerph18189513
31. Cole-King A, Platt S. Suicide prevention for physicians: Identification, intervention and mitigation of risk. Medicine (Abingdon). 2017;45(2):131-134.
32. Witt KG, Hetrick SE, Rajaram G, et al. Interventions for self-harm in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021;3(3):CD013667. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD013667.pub2
33. Behera C, Kishore S, Kaushik R, Sikary AK, Satapathy S. Suicide announced on Facebook followed by uploading of a handwritten suicide note. Asian J Psychiatr. 2020;52:102061. doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102061
34. D'Hotman D, Loh E. AI enabled suicide prediction tools: a qualitative narrative review. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2020;27(3):e100175. doi:10.1136/bmjhci-2020-100175
35. Coppersmith G, Leary R, Crutchley P, Fine A. Natural Language Processing of Social Media as Screening for Suicide Risk. Biomed Inform Insights. 2018;10:1178222618792860. doi:10.1177/1178222618792860
36. Kar SK, Arafat SMY. Digital self-harm in adolescents: strategies of prevention. Asian J Psychiatr. 2021;56:102545.
37. Maloney J, Pfuhlmann B, Arensman E, et al. How to adjust media recommendations on reporting suicidal behavior to new media developments. Arch Suicide Res. 2014;18(2):156-169. doi:10.1080/13811118.2013.824833
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Karolina Krochmal, Aleksandra Kujawa, Kacper Stępniak, Jan Wilk, Paulina Krzeszowska, Radosław Kuźma, Karolina Marrodán-Wojtczak, Jakub Jarmołowicz, Adrianna Samoraj, Jakub Zajączkowski

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The periodical offers access to content in the Open Access system under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 127
Number of citations: 0