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Associations between active and passive social media use and anxious affect among adolescents around the world.

Authors: Twenge JM, Rodriguez L, Hanjra T, Chen S, Rio A, Diomino A
Journal: Journal of mood and anxiety disorders
mental health psychology open access

Abstract

We searched PubMed, Scopus, and PsycInfo for English-language articles from database inception to May 1, 2025, using the terms (“suicide” OR “suicidal behaviour” OR “suicide attempt” OR “self-harm” OR “parasuicide”) AND (“reattempt” OR “recurrence” OR “repeat attempt” OR “repetition”) AND (“predictors” OR “risk factors” OR “prognosis”) AND (“cohort” OR “longitudinal” OR “prospective”). The literature shows that recurrence is common, affecting approximately 15–25% of individuals within 12 months, and is associated with female sex, prior attempts, psychiatric disorders, substance use, and persistent suicidal ideation. Few studies have examined protective factors or developmental differences, and existing evidence is limited by small samples, heterogeneous follow-up periods, and inconsistent definitions of suicide reattempt. To our knowledge, this is the largest prospective, multicentre cohort study of suicide reattempt in Spain, enrolling 1730 individuals aged 12 years or older from eight tertiary hospitals and following them for 12 months after an index attempt. Unlike many previous studies that combine suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviour, our cohort was specifically defined by the occurrence of a suicide attempt, while suicidal ideation was assessed separately as a baseline clinical dimension. This design allowed us to examine baseline factors associated with documented suicide reattempts in a real-world clinical population spanning both adolescents and adults, thereby increasing the developmental breadth and clinical relevance of the findings. Within 12 months, 340 participants (19.7%) reattempted suicide, and five independent prognostic factors for recurrence were identified: high psychotropic medication burden, higher suicidal ideation frequency, prior suicide attempts, moderate to severe childhood emotional neglect, and non-suicidal self-injury. Stratified analyses further suggested age-related differences in risk profiles, supporting the need for developmentally informed post-attempt assessment and follow-up.