Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether deliberate self harm is associated with contemporary Goth youth subculture.

DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study.

SETTING: School and community based study of young people living in the Central Clydeside Conurbation, Scotland.

PARTICIPANTS: 1258 people aged 19, surveyed in 2002-4 and followed-up since age 11 (1994).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Lifetime prevalence of self harm and attempted suicide and their association with Goth youth subculture, before and after adjusting for confounders.

RESULTS: Identification as belonging to the Goth subculture was strongly associated with lifetime self harm and attempted suicide, with a prevalence of 53% and 47%, respectively among the most highly identified group, and evidence for a dose-response relation. Adjusting for potential confounders did not significantly attenuate this association. Analysis of other youth subcultures showed that this effect was primarily associated with Goth subculture.

CONCLUSIONS: Identification as belonging to the Goth subculture was the best predictor of self harm and attempted suicide. Although based on small numbers, additional longitudinal analysis suggests both selection and modelling mechanisms are involved, selection mechanisms possibly being more likely.