D.E.S.S.E.R.T (Detecting Early Signs of a Suicidal Environment and its Risks in Teens) (2023)
Undergraduate: Nathalia Freitas
Faculty Advisor: Patrick Harrison
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience
This literature review shows the impact of social media on teenagers’ mental health, specifically related to suicide and self-harm behavior. Despite the protective factor of social media, such as social support and connectedness, the excess of online activity and exposure to harmful content, among many other things, may lower teenagers’ well-being and expose them to suicidal and self-harm ideas. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. Research shows that in 75% of suicide cases, the victims gave warning signs of their intention. Therefore, parents, caregivers, and school workers (almost 50% of at-risk youth are identified at school) must be aware of the early signs and risk factors of suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviors in teenagers as a prevention to avoid unfortunate circumstances such as suicidal completion. Since the scientific language is not easily interpreted by the general population, to reach our population target and provide them with information and resources, this paper is written in a language understandable to every class of people regardless of their education level.
Keywords: suicide, self-harm, social media, teenagers, prevention, early signs of suicidal behavior, suicide risk-factors