BMJ  2006;332:1215-1216 (20 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7551.1215-b

Letter

Self harm in Goth youth subculture

Study merely reinforces popular stereotypes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—While Goth subculture is the focus of Young et al's study, they cite only two references, only one academic.¹ The authors have not consulted other pertinent studies^{2 3} and have not framed the results with respect to existing knowledge. For example, while Young et al show a prevalence of young men (about 2:1) in the "Goth" category, Hodkinson, whom they cite as reference 5, clearly states that the Goth subculture comprises equal numbers of male and female followers.

In addition, whereas Young et al find young women at risk of attempted suicide, the suicide rate for the 15-19 years age group in 2000 was 4:1 with respect to young men. Hence the results directly contradict what is logically expected.

Furthermore, members of the Goth subculture practise self harm almost exclusively by means of cutting, scratching, and scoring and not through more extreme methods such as punching or . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of English, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia michelle.phillipov@adelaide.edu.au

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Young, R., Sweeting, H., West, P. (2006). Self harm in Goth youth subculture: authors' reply. BMJ 332: 1335-1335 [Full text]