Purpose

The purpose of this study was to understand the range of emotions reported by youth bystanders, as well as the reactions they received from the at-risk individual engaging in self-directed violence.

Methods

A national sample of 1,031 youth and young adults (aged 13–23 years) was recruited online between November 27, 2020 and December 4, 2020. Sixty-two percent (n = 638) reported intervening with someone engaging in self-directed violence and comprise the analytical sample. Suicidal ideation, nonsuicidal self-injury, and suicide attempts were examined separately.

Results

One in five (21.9%) who engaged in bystanding behavior with someone attempting suicide felt really good about their helping; 42.9% said they felt somewhat good. About half (51%) said that the at-risk person responded negatively, however. Similar percentages were noted for bystanders of people with suicidal ideation and nonsuicidal self-injury. Singularly positive responses from the at-risk person were associated with increased odds of the bystander feeling somewhat/really good about their decision to help and feeling like what they did really helped. For every additional type of bystander behavior, the odds of feeling good about helping increased. Bystander behaviors most consistently associated with increased odds of feeling good about helping were “encouraging the person to talk to their family” and “telling the person they were important to them.”

Conclusions

Future research should work to better understand what forms of bystander behavior are most successful at protecting at-risk individuals, how one's perceptions of their bystander behavior change over time, and how effective forms of helping relate to how they are perceived.

中文翻译：

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旁观者还好吗？探索旁观者行为对自我导向暴力的影响

目的

这项研究的目的是了解青少年旁观者报告的情绪范围，以及他们从从事自我导向暴力的高危个体那里得到的反应。

方法

2020 年 11 月 27 日至 2020 年 12 月 4 日期间，在网上招募了 1,031 名青年和青年（年龄 13-23 岁）的全国样本。62%（n = 638）的人报告说，他们干预了从事自我暴力和包括分析样品。分别检查了自杀意念、非自杀性自伤和自杀未遂。

结果

五分之一 (21.9%) 与企图自杀的人进行旁观行为的人对他们的帮助感到非常满意；42.9% 的人表示他们感觉有些好。然而，大约一半（51%）的人表示有风险的人反应消极。对于有自杀意念和非自杀性自伤的人的旁观者，也有类似的百分比。来自高危人群的异常积极的反应与旁观者对他们的帮助决定感觉有点/非常好以及感觉他们所做的事情真正有帮助的几率增加有关。对于每一种额外类型的旁观者行为，帮助感觉良好的几率都会增加。

结论

未来的研究应该致力于更好地了解哪些形式的旁观者行为最能成功地保护处于危险中的个人，人们对其旁观者行为的看法如何随时间变化，以及帮助的有效形式如何与他们的看法相关联。