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Theoretical analysis frames youth peer self-harm as an ancient ritual divorced from cultural containment, highlighting evolutionary mechanisms driving social transmission.
Self-harm among young people is rising worldwide and spreads through peer networks. We apply Tinbergen's four questions - a framework from evolutionary biology applicable to all biological phenomena - to argue that group self-harm may be an ancient ritual process that has become dangerous when severed from the cultural structures that once contained it.
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Sornarajah et al. (2026) studied this question.
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