Self harm and depression
UK teenagers who identify themselves as goths are more likely to be depressed and to self harm than those who belong to other social cultures, research published in Lancet Psychiatry has found. The study authors said that “peer contagion” could be a cause of their findings and that it may be effective to work with young people in the goth community to identify those at risk of depression or self harm and to provide support. Even among goths, they noted, these traits are found only in a minority: 18% had scores in the clinical range for depression at age 18, and 37% had self harmed
