Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Teen Suicides Prompt New Prevention Ad Campaign

A public service ad campaign launching today is designed to help troubled teenagers before it's too late.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, following accidents and homicides, according to government data.

In an effort to reduce such tragedies, the government worked with the Ad Council and the Inspire USA Foundation to create "We Can Help Us," a national public service advertising campaign. It includes TV, radio and print PSAs as well as posters in schools and malls.

This campaign comes on the heels of a number of recent Associated Press reports of teen suicide:

•Phoebe Prince, 15, of South Hadley, Mass, hanged herself at home in January after experiencing a wave of severe taunting, bullying and physical threats by some fellow students in school and on Facebook.

•Marie Osmond's son Michael Blosil, 18, committed suicide in late February, jumping from the eighth floor of his apartment building in Los Angeles. He left a note in which he referred to his life-long battle with depression.

•Two sophomores from Norwood, Pa., died in an apparent suicide pact in February when they stood on train tracks and were killed by a high-speed Acela train.

•Six confirmed or suspected suicides have occurred this academic year at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-03-31-suicideprevention31_ST_N.htm

Teen Internet Addicts More Likely to Self-Harm

A survey of Chinese adolescents found that teens who are addicted to the Internet are twice as likely to harm themselves as other teens.

The survey of students aged 13 to 18 found that about 16 percent said they had harmed themselves in some way within the previous six months; 4.5 percent reported that they'd harmed themselves at least six times during that period.

Self-harm, as defined by the study, included hair pulling, hitting, deliberate burning and pinching.

The researchers, who reported their findings in the Dec. 3 issue of the journal Injury Prevention, noted that about 90 percent of the survey participants were normal users of the Internet, but about 10 percent were moderately addicted and 0.6 percent were severely addicted.

Addicted teens suffered from emotional problems such as depression and nervousness when they weren't online, but felt better when they returned to the Internet, the study authors explained in a news release from the journal's publisher. Addicted teens also fantasized about or were preoccupied by being online.

After adjusting their statistics to account for the potential influence of other factors, such as health problems, the researchers found that the Internet-addicted teens were twice as likely to have harmed themselves. When they did hurt themselves, they did so more seriously than other teens.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/12/03/teen-internet-addicts-more-likely-to-self-harm.html

'Self-Embedding' a Troubling Trend Among Teens

This is the first time that I've heard of this troubling teen practice, but it appears as though it is very closely connected with the practice of "cutting." If you would like more information on cutting, see HomeWord's online article, "When Pain is All You Have - Why Teenagers Cut Themselves".

Self-embedding, a disorder where people wound themselves and then place objects in the wound, is an increasing problem among American teens, especially girls, researchers say.

Slated to report their findings recently at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting in Chicago, doctors said that ultrasound and other minimally invasive imaging techniques can help guide the removal of these foreign objects from the wounds. This is one of the first-ever reports of self-embedding, the authors said.

Self-embedding disorder is typically done without suicidal intent. Objects are used to puncture the skin or are embedded into the wound after cutting.

In the study, interventional pediatric radiologists used ultrasound and/or fluoroscopic guidance to remove 52 embedded foreign objects from nine teenagers with the disorder. The objects removed included needles, staples, paper clips, glass, wood, plastic, graphite (pencil lead), crayon and stone.

Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120300957.html

Teens Who Repeatedly Cut Themselves Have Greater HIV Risk

Teens who repeatedly cut themselves are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, increasing their chances of possibly contracting HIV, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center in Providence, R.I. report that frequent self-cutters -- teens who have cut themselves more than three times -- used condoms less consistently, were more likely to share cutting instruments, and had less self-restraint. The study is the first to examine whether these teens engage in the same level of risk behaviors as those who've only experimented with cutting once or twice.

Source: Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080612070410.htm

For more information about cutting, click on the following article title:

When Pain is All You Have - Why Teenagers Cut Themselves