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Interacción y Perspectiva Dep. Legal pp 201002Z43506

Revista de Trabajo Social ISSN 2244-808X

Vol. 12 No1 63-75 pp. Copyright © 2022

enero-junio

ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN

Consideración de la influencia de la manipulación online en la

intención suicida de los adolescentes

de las características psicológicas y los factores del comportamiento suicida en la

adolescencia mayor, la identificación de la característica psicológica del comportamiento

de los adolescentes en los medios sociales mediante el diagnóstico de la adicción a

Internet de los adolescentes, y la evaluación de la relación entre la propensión al

comportamiento suicida y la adicción a Internet entre ellos. Los resultados del estudio

permiten concluir que existe una relación entre la conducta suicida y la adicción a

Internet que determina el efecto de la manipulación online en la intención suicida de los

adolescentes. Desde este punto de vista, los casos de manipulación en línea que resultan

en el suicidio de los adolescentes suponen una amenaza real para la salud física y mental

de la joven generación. Los adolescentes se encuentran en el grupo de mayor riesgo

de muerte", Imagen.

Cases of psychological pressure by means of online media are acquiring increasingly

dangerous and specific forms, which is why it is advisable to consider them as

independent social problems. A particularly indicative result of such transformations is

the online manipulation of adolescents to drive them to suicide. The article reports an

empirical study consisting of the study of psychological features and factors of suicidal

behavior in older adolescence, the identification of the psychological characteristic of

adolescents’ behavior on social media through the diagnosis of adolescent Internet

In this light, the cases of online manipulation resulting in adolescent suicide pose a real

threat to the physical and mental health of the young generation. Adolescents are in the

group of increased risk because their mental development is characterized by

pronounced indicators of crisis. The work presents the directions that can be taken by

parents and teachers to inform adolescents about the various aspects of the problem of

online manipulation and to prevent its harmful effects.

Key words: Manipulation, Suicidal behavior, Internet addiction, “Death groups”, Image.

*** Estudiante de posgrado con un título en "Psicología Social”, Universidad Estatal Social de Rusia, Moscú,

Rusia. E-mail: sakvarelidzeeliza@gmail.com

Any achievement of scientific and technological progress has both positive and

negative consequences. This thesis particularly accurately characterizes the situation

with the Internet in recent decades: having greatly facilitated and enriched human life,

the World Wide Web has become the source of several phenomena that threaten the

well-being and even the lives of citizens.

Studies conducted in the last 2-3 years show that modern adolescents cannot

groups” – Internet communities that induce teenagers to commit suicide, the activities

of which have allegedly caused several teenage suicides (Arkhipova et al., 2017). No

less threatening of the Internet is cyberbullying, or Internet mobbing, a modern form of

aggression intended to hurt or humiliate a person without physical violence (as opposed

to bullying), which has become common with the advent of cell phones and the Internet

and can even lead to the victim’s suicide.

The development of an effective strategy to overcome the dangers of online

manipulation in terms of suicide inducement is a topical issue and an important role in

this regard belongs to preventive measures of psychological and pedagogical impact.

Literature review

65

Proceeding from the topic of the study, we identify a range of research on the

phenomenon of suicide:

sociocultural factors (Harrington, 2001).

existence in the virtual space (Do et al., 2013; Meerkerk et al., 2009), including the

phenomenon of Internet addiction (Cash et al., 2012; Sharma & De Sousa, 2016). There

has also been a rise in scientific research concerning the Internet related to adolescence

(Bányai et al., 2017; Barry et al., 2017).

determines the impact of online manipulation on the suicidal intent of adolescents.

67

The sample of the study is composed of 88 88 boys and girls between the ages of 16

and 18 (including 48 girls and 40 boys), which are divided in the study into three

subgroups.

The empirical study employs a battery of psychological tests divided into two groups.

Inventory (BDI) (Tarabrina, 2001), Projective technique “Non-existent animal” (Venger,

is diagnosed in 33% of the adolescents, and 16% of the students have a high level of

depression, of which 12% show particularly high, threatening level of depression. These

12% deserve special attention.

At the second stage, three main groups of respondents are identified by means of

cluster analysis: 1) the respondents not inclined to suicidal behavior (66 respondents);

2) the respondents inclined to suicidal behavior (18 respondents); 3) the respondents

showing the traits of suicidal persons (2 respondents).

Following this, we conduct a qualitative analysis of the psychological features of the

subjects in the three groups.

In further analysis, we compare the first and second groups of respondents Table 1

presents the mean values of indicators from various methods in the two groups of

69

Acceptance of others – non-acceptance of

others

65.3

23.8

Emotional comfort – Emotional discomfort

67.3

33.6

the first and second groups, we assume that the subjects in the first group are

characterized by a lack of propensity for suicidal risk behavior, while the subjects in the

second group are prone to the manifestation of suicidal behavior.

Next, a test diagnosis of Internet addiction is administered out in all three groups.

respondents, average level – in 43%, and high level – in 36% of the students.

The results obtained using the Internet Addiction Scale of A.E. Zhichkina’s Internet

Behavior Questionnaire suggest that 23% of the respondents show no signs of Internet

addiction, 43% are prone to Internet addiction, and 34% show the signs of Internet

addiction.

Further on, to determine the relationship between proneness to suicidal behavior and

Internet addiction, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is calculated for two groups

In the first respondent group (not inclined to suicidal behavior), no direct connection

is found between the indices of trait and state anxiety, the degree of depression, as well

as the indices on the scales of the questionnaire of social and psychological adaptation,

on the one hand, and Internet addiction, on the other hand.

being said, not all Internet communities are socially useful and focus on discussing

interests or personal issues. Different subcultures quite often produce a philosophy of

life that can encourage a young person to engage in rash behavior sometimes harmful

to physical and mental health (Barry et al., 2017).

Regarding the motives behind adolescents’ involvement in “death groups”,

researchers make some assumptions (Bányai et al., 2017). In particular, they note the

influence of the crisis manifestations of mental life (internal conflict, low self-esteem, a

pronounced feeling of loneliness, etc.) associated with the objective crisis of

adolescence. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that an adolescent can often

be informed of the dangers of entering destructive virtual communities but not fully

understand it or view the situation as a kind of game (Sharma & De Sousa, 2016). In

by the possibility of using the “save-load” functions. Researchers (Meerkerk et al., 2009)

emphasize this refers not to a persistent conscious perception of reality as a game