Citation

Minkkinen J, Oksanen A, Näsi M, Keipi T, Kaakinen M, Räsänen P. Crisis 2015; 37(1): 31-41.

Affiliation

School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000356

PMID

26620915

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Internet has facilitated the existence of extreme and pathological communities that share information about ways to complete suicide or to deliberately harm or hurt oneself. This material is user-generated and easily accessible. AIMS: The present study analyzed the buffering effect of social belonging to a primary group in the situation of pro-suicide site exposure.

METHOD: Cross-national data were collected from the US, UK, Germany, and Finland in spring 2013 and 2014 from respondents aged 15-30 years (N = 3,567). Data were analyzed by using linear regression separately for women and men for each country.

RESULTS: A higher level of belonging to a primary group buffered the negative association of pro-suicide site exposure with mental health, measured as happiness, although the results were not consistent in the subgroups. US male subjects showed a significant buffering effect of the sense of belonging to family while the belonging to friends had a buffering effect among four other subgroups: British female and male subjects and Finnish female and male subjects.

CONCLUSION: The results underline the positive potential of primary groups to shield young people's mental health in the situation of pro-suicide site exposure.

Language: en