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Teenagers are bullying themselves online at an alarming rate, a new report warns.

Six percent of teens aged between 12 and 17 admitted to 'self-trolling' or 'digital self-harming' by anonymously posting abusive comments about themselves online, researchers found.

The study published this week, the first of its kind, also revealed that most boys who self-bullied were seeking attention, while girls were usually driven to do so by depression or psychological trauma.

Experts warn the report shows little has been done to crack down on the ominous activity despite two high profile deaths – one in the UK and one in the US – of young teenage girls committing suicide after bullying themselves on social media.

 

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A new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health reveals that six percent of teens reported that they had anonymously cyberbullied themselves

The findings published in the Journal of Adolescent Health reveal that teens had anonymously posted negative comments about themselves via fake accounts on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.

Researchers investigated 5,593 American middle and high school students between August and October 2016 to find out how many participated in digital self-harm and the motivations behind it.

Among the 335 students that admitted to self-cyberbullying, about half said they did it once, about 35 percent said they did it a few times, while 13 percent said they had done it many times.

Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., study author and criminology professor at FAU, said: 'This finding was totally unexpected, even though I've been studying cyberbullying for almost 15 years.'

Hinduja and his collaborator from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. revealed that most comments were centered around the themes of self-hate, attention seeking, depressive symptoms, and feeling suicidal. 

The research also showed that many who participated in digital self-harm were looking for a response of either encouragement or validation from others.

Hinduja, who is also the co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center, told DailyMail.com that some students told him: 'I felt down about myself and wanted to feel worse.'

Boys were more likely to cyberbully themselves (seven percent) compared to girls (five percent). However, their reasons varied dramatically. Boys described their behavior as a joke or a way to get attention while girls said they did it because they were depressed or psychologically hurt. 

Researcher's say that this finding suggests digital self-harm has a greater possibility of leading girls to attempt suicide.

 

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Hannah Smith, 14, (left) anonymously sent hurtful messages to herself on the social media platform Ask.fm in the weeks leading up to her suicide in 2013. Natalie Natividad, 15,(right) called herself 'ugly' and said 'she should kill herself' on the app After School before her suicide in 2016.

Digital self-harm came into the public spotlight in 2013 when 14-year-old Hannah Smith of Leicestershire, England, had anonymously sent hurtful messages to herself on the social media platform Ask.fm in the weeks leading up to her suicide.

Another teen, 15-year-old Natalie Natividad of Texas, used the app After School to post anonymous messages directed at herself calling her 'ugly' and saying 'she should kill herself'. 

After her suicide in 2016, investigators found that Natalie had been the one sending those messages. 

Hinduja said he became interested in studying self-cyberbullying due to Hannah Smith's case because 'she couldn't be the only teenager that did this'. 

Age and race were not particular factors in measuring digital self-harm, but teens who identified as gay were three-times more likely to bully themselves online.

Victims of cyberbullying by others were nearly 12 times as likely to have cyberbullied themselves compared to those who were not victims.

'We need to closely look at the possibility that digital self-harm behaviors might precede suicide attempts,' said Hinduja. 'We need to refrain from demonizing those who bully, and come to terms with the troubling fact that in certain cases the aggressor and target may be one and the same.'