Young people who identify themselves as goths have a higher risk of depression, a new study has found.
A goth, who may tend to wear dark clothes or makeup, is
defined by Urban Dictionary as "someone who likes the darker side of things."
When Oxford University researchers explored teenagers who chose this subculture, they found that 15-year-olds who identified as goth were three times more likely to be clinically depressed by the
age of 18 than their peers, the university website said. In addition, they were five times more likely to physically harm themselves.
“Our study does not show that being a goth causes depression or self-harm but rather that some young goths are more vulnerable to developing these conditions,” Oxford's Lucy Bowes, lead author of the study, said on the website.
The study, published in Lancet Psychiatry, took place over a year and involved responses from 3,694 teenagers who talked about self-harm and depressive moods.
Participants were also asked about other youth groups like sporty, populars, skaters, chavs, longers, keeners, and bimbos, the Oxford site said. Although skaters and loners also identified with adult depression and self-harm, the association was strongest for goths. The website said people who identified most strongly as "sporty" were the least likely "to have depression or self-harm at age 18."
"Teenagers who are susceptible to depression or with a tendency to self-harm might be attracted to the goth subculture which is known to embrace marginalized individuals from all backgrounds, including those with mental health problems,” study co-author Dr. Rebecca Pearson, of the University of Bristol, said in the Oxford article.
Not everyone agreed with the study's findings, and some people posted their doubts online.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.