The Role of Depression in Posting About Suicide on Social Media: An Exploratory Case Control Study of Adolescents and Young Adults.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this exploratory study was to test the association between moderate to severe depression symptoms and social media posts about suicide or suicidal ideation (S/SI) among adolescent and young adult (AYA) alcohol users.

METHODS

Participants were AYAs aged 18-25 years who used alcohol. The Patient Health Questionnaire 8 assessed depression symptoms. Participants' Facebook, X, and Instagram profiles were evaluated for 6 months. Cases who posted an S/SI reference were randomly matched to three controls who did not post about S/SI. The relationship between depression symptom severity and S/SI posts was assessed using odds ratios.

RESULTS

A total of 16 cases and 48 controls were included. The odds of posting S/SI content were over 4 times higher for participants with moderate to severe depression symptoms compared to those with no to mild symptoms (odds ratio = 4.33; 95% confidence interval [1.09, 17.17]; p = .037).

DISCUSSION: Posting S/SI content on social media may be related to offline experiences with depression.