Adolescents on the Lookout for Suicidal Friends on Social Networking Sites

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dc.contributor.advisorGottfredson, Gary D.en_US
dc.contributor.authorBerger, Jillen_US
dc.contributor.departmentCounseling and Personnel Servicesen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-10-03T05:32:03Z
dc.date.available2013-10-03T05:32:03Z
dc.date.issued2013en_US
dc.description.abstractThere are opportunities to identify and intervene with suicidal adolescents through social media outlets. This study explored the effectiveness of using two types of persuasive messages to encourage adolescents to get help for Facebook friends who might be suicidal. Facebook-using adolescents (N = 299) were recruited to participate in an online survey within which a randomized experiment was embedded. More than one third of participants reported seeing Facebook friends post about suicide. Participants were randomly assigned in a 2x2x2 design to exposure or no exposure to suicide prevention information, a suicide intervention story, and a pre-test assessment. The effects of these conditions on participants' knowledge of what to do and their intentions to get adult help were examined. Participants exposed to information were more likely to report that they knew what to do for a suicidal friend; whereas those exposed to the story were more likely to express intentions to get adult help when presented with suicidal scenarios. Stories depicting social role models appear to be an effective way to encourage adolescents to take appropriate actions when friends post content suggestive of suicide on Facebook. Further research exploring how youth suicide prevention efforts can be integrated with social media is warranted.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/14494
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPsychologyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPublic healthen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledadolescentsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledapplied researchen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledhelping behavioren_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledsocial mediaen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledsuicide preventionen_US
dc.titleAdolescents on the Lookout for Suicidal Friends on Social Networking Sitesen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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