A study in China found that adolescents prone to non-suicidal self-injuries tend to experience ghosting online more frequently than their peers. The study’s authors proposed that being ghosted online increases social avoidance, which in turn exacerbates depressive symptoms. These depressive symptoms, in turn, increase the likelihood of adolescents engaging in non-suicidal self-injury. The research was published in Death Studies.
Ghosting refers to the sudden and unexplained cessation of communication by one person in a relationship. This often leaves the other person confused and hurt. In modern times, ghosting has become common across various social contexts and relationships. For the individual doing the ghosting, it typically provides an escape from the discomfort of explaining their decision to end the relationship and avoids open conflict. However, for the person being ghosted, the lack of explanation or closure can cause significant emotional distress.
The experience of being ghosted can be especially impactful on adolescents. Adolescence is a critical developmental period marked by profound cognitive, emotional, and social changes as individuals transition from childhood to adulthood. During this time, the neural structures responsible for complex emotion regulation—particularly the prefrontal brain regions—are still maturing. This makes adolescents especially vulnerable to environmental influences. Compared to adults, adolescents tend to have poorer emotional regulation and exhibit greater impulsivity.
Research has shown that some adolescents may respond to extreme emotional distress with non-suicidal self-injuries. These are deliberate, self-inflicted injuries to the body without suicidal intent. Adolescents often engage in self-injury as a way to cope with emotional distress or regulate intense feelings. Common methods include cutting, burning, or scratching the skin, though these actions are not intended to be life-threatening.
Study author Jiahui Ding and colleagues sought to investigate the relationship between the experience of being ghosted and non-suicidal self-injuries among adolescents. They also explored whether social avoidance and depression might mediate this relationship. Social avoidance refers to the deliberate act of withdrawing from or avoiding social interactions, often due to anxiety, fear of judgment, or discomfort in social situations.
The researchers hypothesized that adolescents who are ghosted more often would be more likely to develop social avoidance, experience more severe depressive symptoms, and engage in non-suicidal self-injuries. They also proposed that social avoidance and depression might mediate the relationship between being ghosted and self-injury.
The study included 887 senior high school students in China, with an average age of 16–17 years. Approximately 65% of participants were female. Participants completed an online survey via the platform Wenjuanxing, accessed through links provided by their teachers.
The survey asked participants to report how many times they had been ghosted in the past six months, with the term “ghosting” defined for clarity. It also asked about self-injury: “Have you intentionally hurt yourself in any of the following ways in the last six months: cutting or stabbing, burning, bruising or pinching, overdosing, pulling out hair, or others?” Additionally, participants completed assessments of social avoidance (a five-item scale, e.g., “I do not want to be with people at all” and “I always feel lonely”) and depression (a five-item scale, e.g., “I did not enjoy my life” and “I have felt myself unworthy”).
The results showed that participants who reported being ghosted more frequently in the past six months tended to have more severe depressive symptoms, stronger social avoidance tendencies, and a higher likelihood of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury.
The researchers tested a statistical model proposing that social avoidance and depression mediate the effects of being ghosted on non-suicidal self-injuries. The results indicated that such a sequence of relationships is plausible. According to the model, being ghosted increases social avoidance, which exacerbates depressive symptoms, thereby increasing the likelihood of non-suicidal self-injury.
“The study finds that frequent being ghosted experiences lead to an increase in depression, contributing to NSSI [non-suicidal self-injury]. Though social avoidance doesn’t directly connect to NSSI, it plays a role in this process by intensifying feelings and symptoms of depression. Despite certain limitations, these findings underline the importance of addressing being ghosted and its psychological impacts to mitigate the risk of NSSI among adolescents,” the study authors concluded.
The study examines the links between experiences of ghosting and self-injury. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results. Statistical analyses of models proposing causal relationships between the examined factors can only suggest that such relationships are possible, not definitively certain. While being ghosted may lead to depression, social avoidance, and self-injury, it is also possible that existing patterns of depression, social avoidance, and self-injurious tendencies increase the likelihood of an adolescent being ghosted.
The paper, “Being ghosted online and non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents: The role of social avoidance and depression,” was authored by Jiahui Ding, Weiyi Sun, Jie Liu, and Miao Chao.
