ArticleJMIR mental health2020
Examining the Self-Harm and Suicide Contagion Effects of the Blue Whale Challenge on YouTube and Twitter: Qualitative Study.
Article in JMIR mental health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Web-Based Sharing and Viewing of Self-Harm-Related Videos and Photographs on Young People: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- The effect of the Yara smartphone application on anxiety, sleep quality, and suicidal thoughts in patients with major depressive disorder in Iran: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Effect of Notes' Access and Complexity on OpenNotes' Utility.Applied clinical informatics · 2022Trial
- The role of bullying victimization in youth suicide: A scoping review of empirical evidence.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- A Social Media Study of Portrayals of Bipolar Disorders on YouTube: Content and Thematic Analyses.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Online Safety When Considering Self-Harm and Suicide-Related Content: Qualitative Focus Group Study With Young People, Policy Makers, and Social Media Industry Professionals.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A content analysis of the OrbeezInjury epidemiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Psychosocial profiles and motivations for adolescent engagement in hazardous games: the role of boredom, peer influence, and self-harm tendencies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Digital mental health and hidden support: a qualitative analysis of non-suicidal self-injury communities on TikTok.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Suicidal Thinking in Adolescents by Derivation and Validation in 3 Independent Worldwide Cohorts: Algorithm Development and Validation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- "Swipe & slice": decoding digital struggles with non-suicidal self-injuries among youngsters.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- A scoping review of social media in child, adolescents and young adults: research findings in depression, anxiety and other clinical challenges.BJPsych open · 2023Article
- Anxiety and depression amongst youth as adverse effects of using social media : A Review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2023Article
- Article
- Emergency department visits for self-harm in adolescents after release of the Netflix series '13 Reasons Why'.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2022Article
- Commenting and connecting: A thematic analysis of responses to YouTube vlogs about borderline personality disorder.Internet interventions · 2022Article
- The Mental Health and Social Media Use of Young Australians during the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A retrospective research on non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors among young patients diagnosed with mood disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Factors Contributing to Adolescents' and Young Adults' Participation in Web-Based Challenges: Survey Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundResearch suggests that direct exposure to suicidal behaviors and acts of self-harm through social media may increase suicidality through imitation and modeling, particularly in more vulnerable populations. One example of a social media phenomenon that demonstrates how self-harming behavior could potentially be propagated is the blue whale challenge. In this challenge, adolescents and young adults are encouraged to engage in self-harm and eventually kill themselves.
objectiveThis paper aimed to investigate the way individuals portray the blue whale challenge on social media, with an emphasis on factors that could pose a risk to vulnerable populations.
methodsWe first used a thematic analysis approach to code 60 publicly posted YouTube videos, 1112 comments on those videos, and 150 Twitter posts that explicitly referenced the blue whale challenge. We then deductively coded the YouTube videos based on the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) safe messaging guidelines as a metric for the contagion risk associated with each video.
resultsThe thematic analysis revealed that social media users post about the blue whale challenge to raise awareness and discourage participation, express sorrow for the participants, criticize the participants, or describe a relevant experience. The deductive coding of the YouTube videos showed that most of the videos violated at least 50% of the SPRC safe and effective messaging guidelines.
conclusionsThese posts might have the problematic effect of normalizing the blue whale challenge through repeated exposure, modeling, and reinforcement of self-harming and suicidal behaviors, especially among vulnerable populations such as adolescents. More effort is needed to educate social media users and content generators on safe messaging guidelines and factors that encourage versus discourage contagion effects.
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