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Cited by 170Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesImpact of Technology on AdolescentsMental Health via Writing

#Online harms or benefits? An ethnographic analysis of the positives and negatives of peer‐support around self‐harm on social media

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Lavis, Anna, Winter, Rachel·2020·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI 10.1111/jcpp.13245
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Abstract

Background: There is emerging evidence of the potentially detrimental impact of social media on young people’s mental health. Against this background, online self‐harm content has been a recent focus of concern across academia, policy and the media. It has been argued to encourage or even cause acts such as self‐cutting through mechanisms of contagion. However, little is known about why a young person might engage with such content or about its impact on behaviour or well‐being. Methods: Online ethnographic observation of interactions around self‐harm on Twitter, Reddit and Instagram : collection and analysis of 10,169 original posts and 36,934 comments, both written and pictorial, at two time‐points in 2018 and 2019. Ten in‐depth semi‐structured interviews exploring engagements with self‐harm content on social media. Results: Our data show that peer support is the central component of online interactions around self‐harm. Young people accessing such content are likely to already be self‐harming; they may turn to social media to understand, and seek help for, their actions and feelings in a context of offline stigma and service support gaps. This paper engages with the mechanisms, complexities and impact of this peer‐support, reflecting on the benefits and dangers to caring for oneself and others through social media. Conclusions: Self‐harm content is a fraught issue at the centre of current debates around risks and opportunities for child and adolescent mental health in the digital age. Whilst the importance of supporting young people’s online safety is clear, moves to eradicate self‐harm content must be undertaken with caution so as not to cause unintentional harm. Our research highlights a need to think beyond a model of contagion, instead attending to other mechanisms of harm and benefit. In so doing, it challenges prevailing attitudes towards online communication about self‐harm and accepted approaches to managing this.

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  • Current content moderation practices lack efficiency in identifying evolving forms of cyberbullying, such as subtle harassment, exclusion, and coded language used to target individuals.

    “Research highlights that current content moderation practices lack efficiency in identifying evolving forms of cyberbullying, such as subtle harassment, exclusion, and coded language used to target individuals [80].”

    From The Impact of Social Media & Technology on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as [80]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) identifies limits in moderating self-harm content by blocking hashtags: graphic content remained findable through less obvious hashtags. It does not examine whether moderation detects cyberbullying, subtle harassment, exclusion, or coded language targeting individuals. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Adolescents who experience cyberbullying often feel powerless because the digital nature of harassment makes it difficult to escape.

    “Research suggests that adolescents who experience cyberbullying often feel powerless, as the digital nature of harassment makes it difficult to escape [80].”

    From The Impact of Social Media & Technology on Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2025) · cites this paper as [80]

    The Introduction links cyberbullying to depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide, but does not describe adolescents feeling powerless or unable to escape digital harassment. Searches for those experiences found no passage addressing the claim; the paper instead examines peer support around self-harm on social media. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 25

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Authors
Lavis, A., & Winter, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Birmingham (GB)
  • Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
Corresponding author
Lavis, Anna
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2020-05-27
Volume
61
Issue
8
Pages
842-854
ISSN
  • 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-7610
DOI
10.1111/jcpp.13245
OpenAlex
W3030061476
Cited by
170
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 4
FWCI
7.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
Keywords
self-harm, peer support, social media, youth mental health, stigma, contagion, online harms, self-cutting, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, online safety, help-seeking
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Peer Group, Social Support, Self-Injurious Behavior, Social Media

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