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Cyberbullying on social media is linked to depression in teenagers, according to new research that analyzed multiple studies of the online phenomenon.

Victimization of young people online has received an increasing level of scrutiny, particularly after a series of high-profile suicides of teenagers who were reportedly bullied on various social networks. In 2013, for example, a spate of suicides was linked to the social network Ask.fm, where users can ask each other questions anonymously. The deaths of teens who had been subject to abuse on the site prompted Ask.fm (which was acquired by Ask.com in 2014) to launch new safety efforts. Twitter, likewise, announced plans in April to filter out abusive tweets and suspend bullying users.

Social media use is hugely common among teenagers, said Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics at the University of Alberta, but the health effects of cyberbullying on social media sites is largely unknown. Regular, face-to-face bullying during the teen years may double the risk of depression in adulthood, and bullying's effects can be as bad or worse than child abuse, studies show.

A depressing effect
In the new review, Hamm and her colleagues combed through studies on cyberbullying and social media, finding 36 that investigated the effects of cyberbullying on health in teens ages 12 to 18. Although the studies examined different health outcomes and sometimes defined cyberbullying differently, one finding stood out.

"There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression," Hamm told Live Science. [ 8 Tips for Parents of Teens with Depression]

The studies covered a variety of social sites, but Facebook was the most common-between 89 percent and 97.5 percent of the teens who used social media had a Facebook account. Seventeen of the 36 studies analyzed looked at how common cyberbullying was, and the researchers found that a median of 23 percent of teens reporting being targeted. About 15 percent reported bullying someone online themselves.

Two studies examined the prevalence of so-called "bully-victims," meaning teens who both bully others and are bullied. Research on offline bullying shows these kids to be most at-risk for mental health problems. One study found that 5.4 percent of teens were bully-victims, while the other reported a prevalence of 11.2 percent.

Safe social media
Despite the well-publicized suicide cases linked to cyberbullying in news reports, Hamm and her colleagues did not find consistent links between being bullied and self-harm across the studies. Nor did they see a consistent link between cyberbullying and anxiety. Some studies found evidence for these links, and others did not.

However, Hamm cautioned, the findings don't mean these links don't exist. The 36 studies used a variety of definitions and health outcomes, and not enough work has been done to confirm or rule out connections between cyberbullying and anxiety or self-harm.

But cyberbullying and depression went hand-in-hand, the researchers report today (June 22) in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Ten studies examined the link between social media victimization and depression, and all of them found a connection.

Alone, these studies can't prove that the bullying caused the depression - it's possible that depressed teens are more likely to become targets of bullying than their healthier peers. However, Hamm said, one of the 10 studies did follow the teens over time and found that the cyberbullying preceded the teens' depression, hinting at a causal relationship. The research also found that the more cyberbullying a teen experienced, the more severe his or her symptoms of depression.

Alarmingly, teens typically suffered cyberbullying in silence. "Kids really are hesitant to tell anyone when cyberbullying occurs," Hamm said. "There seems to be a common fear that if they tell their parents, for example, they'll lose their Internet access."

Therefore, it's important for parents to respond carefully if their kids are being bullied online, and to teach teens safe Internet use rather than cutting off permission to use the Web, she said.

"Parents need to address that this is happening and that the Internet and social media is here," Hamm said. "It's an important part of their kids' lives. But it needs to be a whole team approach."
Copyright 2015 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Social Media Cyber Bullying Linked to Teen Depression

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Victims tend to suffer in silence, making it difficult for parents to identify and address the problem

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"He was a happy laddie, not depressed and the last type of person you would think would take their life.

"We're a very close family and I just wished he had come to me and said something."

The words of the mother of 17-year-old Daniel Perry, who took his own life after he was apparently blackmailed after befriending someone he thought was a girl of his age online.

In reality, it is thought he was "talking" to an extortion gang.

The apprentice mechanic was told on 15 July to deposit thousands of pounds in to an account or images or video of him would be shared with his family and friends or the public.

Hours later, he was dead.

It is a story that sends shivers down the spine of most parents.

In an interview with the Dunfermline Press, his mother said he had "not being doing anything wrong - just what anyone his age might do", but had been too "embarrassed and horrified" to tell anyone about what had happened.

'No signs'

Three months earlier, it is reported, the teenager had been bullied on the social networking site ask.fm and received messages telling him to kill himself.

Father and co-founder of the Cybersmile website, Dan Raisbeck, says the case is "extremely distressing" and shows the horrific consequences of "online hate".

"For a person to be manipulated in their home and bullied in their own loving home which is supposed to be where you feel safe... if that is undermined, what has a child got?" he said.

"This case is extremely distressing because of the short time span. There seemed to be no signs."

It's very common for young people to encourage each other to send sexual pictures
Dr Lucy Maddox, Psychologist

Psychologist Dr Lucy Maddox said for many young people, opening up to parents about something like cyber blackmail would be extremely difficult.

Not commenting on Daniel Perry's case in particular, she said: "Trying to talk to parents, especially if it's about sex, is very difficult, especially if you think of it as something you are ashamed of.

"Shame is a powerful driver not to tell someone something, so telling a parent that you have sent a naked picture of yourself... it's no wonder they don't tell. Sexual shame is a double whammy."

Dr Maddox said teenagers were prone to risky behaviour and were very influenced by their peer group and wanted to fit in, so might get drawn in to sending intimate images of themselves.

"It's very common for young people to encourage each other to send sexual pictures," she said.

"In the short term, the teenager gets a thrill from sending the picture and feeling grown up but they do not see the long-term consequences of that picture being passed on and then feeling very exposed.

Warning signs

For a parent, the thought of a child suffering in silence at the mouse-clicks of bullies while they are just feet away, unaware, is an upsetting idea.

But are there warning signs?

Hannah Smith, 14, who was found hanged at her home in Leicestershire on 2 August, was said to have been bullied online for months.

Following her death her father David found bullying posts on her ask.fm site - but he said there were "no signs Hannah would do this" beforehand.

Mr Raisbeck set up the Cybersmile charity after his 10-year-old son was bullied online while playing a game where competitors team up against each other.

He says there were warning signs in his case.

"There was a real stark change in his demeanour, played out in my living room. I could see he was getting frustrated," he said.

"A lot of abuse and banter goes on in this game. His account was hacked. It got very nasty, out of control.

"The biggest sign for me was the intensity of the emotional response and distress. It's as good as being attacked verbally - as if someone is screaming in your face. It's like they are there in the room with them, with dad, unaware, sitting next to them."

Mr Raisbeck got his son to talk to him about what was going on and told him he should not "bite back" if people attacked him online.

Dr Maddox, a member of the British Psychological Society, says children of the internet age face the threat of bullies reaching them wherever they are.

"Before someone could be bullied at school but could go home and have respite from it, now it can go on for 24 hours," she said.

Some ask why teenagers - or adults - do not log off permanently from sites where they are getting abused.

Dr Maddox says that although staying there might bring "very negative consequences" in the long-term, there could be short-term gains which keep them there.

"It's a hook that keeps people there. If they are getting loads of 'likes' for a picture or even one or two people spurring them on, it can be a powerful hook to stay in," she said.

"They make people feel connected and part of something and that sometimes flips, making them feel much more isolated and that the community is against them.

"That is such a powerful driver for people who feel very despairing."

'Audience of trillions'

Lucie Russell, campaigns director at the YoungMinds charity, agrees that young people might stay in an online place where they are getting bullied because they want interaction and attention.

"They feed on each other, young people feed off each other; they want attention," she said.

"Being online means they are getting attention and there is an audience of trillions."

According to a recent report from the NSPCC, almost one in five children who use social networking sites had bad experiences online last year, including bullying, unwanted sexual messages and cyber stalking.

He'd say horrible things about how I looked. He called me fat and ugly, He said I should want to kill myself
Bronagh

Ms Russell says the media likes to present the situation as one of "goodies and baddies", but that the reality is often more complicated.

"The people doing it [bullying and trolling] can also be victims themselves," she said.

"We say trolls are the baddies but it's more nuanced than this."

Bronagh received support from the NSPCC's ChildLine after she was bullied online when she was 13 and says the person who bullied her went on to suffer too.

In an account she gave through the charity, she described how accepting a casual acquaintance as a contact on a social network led to a stream of attacks.

"He started saying really nasty things about me and about my family. The first time it happened I just logged off, but it kept happening.

"He'd say horrible things about how I looked. He called me fat and ugly... he said I should want to kill myself.

Bronagh said she did not talk to her family about the problem, even though she knew they would be supportive, because the boy was saying nasty things about them. She confided in her friends and one of them challenged the boy online.

"He blamed me. I logged back on and he showed me these red marks on his neck over the webcam, and said that he'd tried to hang himself because of what I'd said about him. Then I started to feel like it was all my fault.

"I brought it to an end by permanently blocking him and I found out he was creeping [another site] to find out about me, so I changed my settings.

"Now I just wish I'd done it sooner - that I'd cut him off straight away and not let him get to me."

'Emotional cost'

Often excluded from the teenage world, what can parents do to help their children?

We need to have a massive campaign showing the real emotional cost of losing someone through this and how it happens
Dan Raisbeck, Cybersmile

Lucie Russell from YoungMinds said: "We have no idea what they are doing in their rooms and how many things can you block?

"The answer is not to close these sites down but to help young people develop resilience and understanding of themselves and their needs, and to help them find ways of meeting those needs in a better way."

"The internet is our kids pavement," says Cybersmile co-founder Dan Raisbeck.

"They are learning their social dynamics on the internet and staying abreast of that as a parent is difficult.

"Engaging with a teenager about the colour of their socks can be impossible at times, so prying into their internet habits is going to be difficult, but parents need to engage more with them and support them.

He believes everyone has a responsibility to "get rid of online hate".

"Schools, authorities and the companies themselves have to do their bit and make sure that the message gets across so this behaviour is seen to be wrong and socially unacceptable," he said.

"We need to have a massive campaign showing the real emotional cost of losing someone through this and how it happens.

"I count myself quite lucky that I managed to engage with my kid before it went too far - and that's where parents need to be."

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"He was a happy laddie, not depressed and the last type of person you would think would take their life. "We're a very close family and I just wished he had come to me and said something."

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TEXAS CITY, Texas -- Family members of a Houston-area high school student who killed herself are rallying for tighter laws against cyberbullying.

Brandy Vela's family says cyberbullying pushed the 18-year-old over the edge, leading her to shoot herself in the chest Tuesday afternoon at the family's Texas City home as family members watched.

Her father, Raul Vela, said she had been receiving abusive text messages for months from bullies using an untraceable smartphone application. Her father said someone made a fake Facebook page of her, creating another cyberbullying medium.

On Tuesday, Brandy sent an email to her family members telling them she was going to kill herself, CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV reports. They rushed home and found her alive.

"We tried to persuade her to put the gun down, but she was determined," Raul Vela told KHOU-TV. "She said she'd come too far to turn back. It was very unfortunate that I had to see that. It's hard when your daughter tells you to turn around. You feel helpless."

"I heard someone crying," Brandy's 22-year-old sister, Jacqueline Vela, told KPRC-TV of Houston, "so I ran upstairs and I looked in her room, and she's against the wall and she has a gun pointed at her chest and she's just crying and crying and I'm like, 'Brandy, please don't. Brandy, no."

Jacqueline Vela said she went to her parents' room, "and I just heard the shot and my dad just yelled, 'Help me. Help me. Help me.'"

"I was almost certain that I could persuade her to put that gun down. It didn't work. She pulled the trigger," Raul Vela said.

Her final cellphone text to her family was, "I love you so much just remember that please and I'm so sorry for everything."

Her family said the harassment focused mainly on Brandy's weight.

"They would make dating websites of her, and they would put her number and they would put her picture (on the sites), and lie about her age and say she is giving herself up for sex for free, to call her," said Jacqueline Vela.

The family said they reported the bullying to the Texas City school district and several law enforcement agencies.

"School was a safe environment for Brandy," said school district spokeswoman Melissa Tortorici. "She had a lot of friends and was thought of warmly by her peers and teachers. She did bring it to the school's attention before Thanksgiving break that she was getting harassing messages to her cellphone outside of school. Our deputy investigated it, and the app that was being used to send the messages was untraceable. We encouraged her to change her phone number."

Brandy Vela changed her number, but bullies always found her, her family said.

"We have lots of incident reports, and they always say the same thing: They can't do anything about it," Jacqueline Vela said.

A Texas City Police Department statement says it continues to investigate the Velas' complaints. Jacqueline Vela told KPRC that she and her siblings have a good idea who may have been behind some of these attacks and have been assisting in the investigation.

The father said that he hopes for stricter laws against cyberbullying and greater awareness of the problem to give some meaning to his daughter's death.

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Cyberbullying pushed Texas teen to commit suicide, family says

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Cyberbullying led Texas high school student to commit suicide in front of loved ones, family says

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Research from anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label suggests social media is making youngsters more anxious.

Forty per cent said they felt bad if nobody liked their selfies and 35% said their confidence was directly linked to the number of followers they had.

Instagram was highlighted as having become the vehicle most used for mean comments.

Seven per cent of young social network users said they had been bullied on the Facebook-owned photo app.

That compared to a figure of 6% for Facebook itself, 5% for Snapchat and 2% for Twitter and YouTube.

One expert said children were growing up in "a culture of antagonism".

Instagram said it encouraged users to report bullying content.

"We know that comments posted by other people can have a big impact and that's why we have recently invested heavily in new technology to help make Instagram a safe and supportive place," said policy chief Michelle Napchan.

"Using machine learning technology, offensive comments on Instagram are now automatically blocked from appearing on people's accounts. We also give people the choice to turn off comments altogether, or make their own lists of banned words or emojis."

'Big challenge'

The survey, of more than 10,000 young people aged 12 to 20, suggested that cyber-bullying is widespread, with nearly 70% of youngsters admitting to being abusive towards another person online and 17% claiming to have been bullied online.

One in three said they lived in fear of cyber-bullying, with appearance cited as the most likely topic for abuse.

Nearly half (47%) said they wouldn't discuss bad things in their lives on social media and many offered only an edited version of their lives.

"There is a trend towards people augmenting their personalities online and not showing the reality," said Ditch the Label's chief executive Liam Hackett.

Mr Hackett said: "Cyber-bullying continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing young people.

"Not only is the internet redefining the climate of bullying, but also it is having clear impacts upon the identity, behaviours and personality of its young users."

He called on social networks to put more resources into policing the comments people post online and responding to complaints in a more timely manner.

His views were echoed by Anne Longfield, the children's commissioner for England, who also called for a government ombudsman to be set up to mediate between the social network firms and children who are having problems.

She also called for "compulsory digital citizenship classes" in schools.

The findings appear to contradict research from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) earlier this month that suggested cyber-bullying was relatively rare.

The OII research - which concentrated on 15-year-olds - found that, while 30% reported regular bullying, only 3% said it happened both off and online.

The huge variation of findings between surveys is often down to how questions are worded, said Lauren Seager-Smith, chief executive of charity Kidscape,

"This survey paints a bleak picture but there is a great variance in these studies. Part of this is about how you ask the question, who you ask and what age they are."

She said that she was not surprised by Ditch the Label's findings.

"We are living in a culture of antagonism. That sadly is the climate our children are growing up in," she said.

"The jury is out on quite how damaging social media is and whether we all need to spend less time on such networks."

But, she added, adults also needed to think about their usage.

"Often parents are equally addicted and they have to ask what impact that is having on family life. It could be time for them to say that there is more to life than social networks and the glossy picture of life that it often shows."

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Research from anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label suggests social media is making youngsters more anxious. Forty per cent said they felt bad if nobody liked their selfies and 35% said their confidence was directly linked to the number of followers they had. Instagram was highlighted as having become the vehicle most used for mean comments.

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We recently ran a series of articles on cyberbullying using the CW's " Supernatural" fandom as an example of a growing problem.

Funny enough, it brought out the cyberbullies in enough force to draw attention from law enforcement agencies, so we are now working with them on this issue to help find solutions. We are also able to help bring users to their attention who are using social media outlets such as Twitter to bully others. We are very proud to take part in this as we created MTTG as a way of helping others, and what better way than helping to stop teenage suicide at the hands of these cyberbullies. Law enforcement also realizes that it's not just teens that come under fire but people of all ages. We've also learned and experiences this firsthand.

It should come as no surprise that social media is an easy outlet for people to focus their anger and lash out at others, but many have taken it way too far.

A new study is showing that suicide rates for teens is back on an upswing after being in decline for nearly twenty years.

An increase in suicide rates among U.S. teens occurred at the same time social media use surged, and a new analysis suggests there may be a link.

Suicide rates for teens rose between 2010 and 2015 after they had declined for nearly two decades, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why the rates went up isn't known.

The study doesn't answer the question, but it suggests that one factor could be rising social media use. Recent teen suicides have been blamed on cyberbullying, and social media posts depicting "perfect" lives may be taking a toll on teens' mental health, researchers say.

"After hours of scrolling through Instagram feeds, I just feel worse about myself because I feel left out," said Caitlin Hearty, a 17-year-old Littleton, Colorado, high school senior who helped organize an offline campaign last month after several local teen suicides.

"No one posts the bad things they're going through," said Chloe Schilling, also 17, who helped with the campaign, in which hundreds of teens agreed not to use the internet or social media for one month.

The study's authors looked at CDC suicide reports from 2009-15 and results of two surveys given to U.S. high school students to measure attitudes, behaviors, and interests. About half a million teens ages 13 to 18 were involved. They were asked about the use of electronic devices, social media, print media, television and time spent with friends. Questions about mood included frequency of feeling hopeless and considering or attempting suicide.

The researchers didn't examine circumstances surrounding individual suicides. Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the study provides weak evidence for a popular theory and that many factors influence teen suicide.

The study was published Tuesday in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.

Data highlighted in the study include:

-Teens' use of electronic devices including smartphones for at least five hours daily more than doubled, from 8 percent in 2009 to 19 percent in 2015. These teens were 70 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts or actions than those who reported one hour of daily use.

-In 2015, 36 percent of all teens reported feeling desperately sad or hopeless, or thinking about, planning or attempting suicide, up from 32 percent in 2009. For girls, the rates were higher - 45 percent in 2015 versus 40 percent in 2009.

-In 2009, 58% of 12th-grade girls used social media every day or nearly every day; by 2015, 87% used social media every day or nearly every day. They were 14% more likely to be depressed than those who used social media less frequently.

"We need to stop thinking of smartphones as harmless," said study author Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who studies generational trends. "There's a tendency to say, 'Oh, teens are just communicating with their friends.' Monitoring kids' use of smartphones and social media is important, and so is setting reasonable limits, she said.

Dr. Victor Strasburger, a teen medicine specialist at the University of New Mexico, said the study only implies a connection between teen suicides, depression, and social media. It shows the need for more research on new technology, Strasburger said.

He noted that skeptics who think social media is being unfairly criticized compare it with so-called vices of past generations: "When dime-store books came out, when comic books came out, when television came out, when rock and roll first started, people were saying 'This is the end of the world.'"

With its immediacy, anonymity, and potential for bullying, social media has a unique potential for causing real harm, he said.

"Parents don't really get that," Strasburger said.

Jeffrey Lang has joined Movie TV Tech Geeks for 2015 and will be providing his opinion on technology from across the pond in London. Along with having many opinions on tech, gadgets, games, etc., he enjoys watching the Thames from our satellite office there.

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New study shows teen suicide on rise after 2 decade decline

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We recently ran a series of articles on cyberbullying using the CW's " Supernatural" fandom as an example of a growing problem. Funny enough, it brought out the cyberbullies in enough force to draw attention from law enforcement agencies, so we are now working with them on this issue to help find solutions.

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Cyberbullying (online bullying) | Childline

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Cyberbullying is using the internet, email, online games or any digital technology to threaten, tease, upset or humiliate someone else. Find out how Childline can help.

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Prince William announced recommendations today for combating cyberbullying after convening a task force of leading tech companies to look at the issue.

Interested in Royal Family?

Add Royal Family as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Royal Family news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

The online code of conduct, called "Stop, Speak, Support," is the first in the world of its kind. Its aim is to create a safer space online for children and give them online resources if they feel threatened or lost.

William, 35, brought together the world's leading tech firms -- including Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat -- as part of The Royal Foundation's task force on the prevention of cyberbullying. The task force, which first convened in May 2016, also included parents, children and representatives from children's charities.

Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

The campaign will work with tech giants Facebook and Snapchat to initiate a trial program to support victims of cyberbullying and implement safety guidelines for online users.

The tech firms that are part of the task force have also agreed to make changes, William announced in his speech today.

"The technology company members of the Taskforce have agreed to adopt new guidelines to improve the process for reporting bullying online, and to create clearer consequences for those who behave unacceptably," he said.

The online code of conduct includes a website where kids can go for support. The website teaches children to stop participating when they see negative comments, speak out to adults and/or report the bullying to the social media platform and to support the person being bullied.

Over the past 18 months, the Taskforce has met regularly to kick-start a new approach to support young people who are experiencing bullying online. pic.twitter.com/qBkkveoOLO
- Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 16, 2017

Kensington Palace on Wednesday released a moving video of William speaking with a mother who lost her son to suicide and a teen girl who attempted suicide after being the victim of cyberbullying.

"I started to self-harm as a way to cope, to make me feel better, and then I decided that I couldn't take this anymore and I tried to end my life," Chloe, who was cyberbullied at the age of 13, told William during their conversation at Kensington Palace.

Ahead of the launch, HRH invited campaigners Lucy Alexander and Chloe Hine to Kensington Palace to hear more about how cyberbullying has affected their lives. pic.twitter.com/WX5kekgHv2
- Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 15, 2017

In the video, William praised the women for their bravery and told them, "I only wish that neither of you had gone through what you've gone through."

"I think it is worth reminding everyone what the human tragedy of what we are talking about here," William said. "It isn't just about companies and about online stuff. It's actually real lives that get affected."

William said he became particularly interested in how social media can affect children after becoming a father to Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2. William and Princess Kate are expecting their third child next April.

Kay Nietfeld/AFP/Getty Images, FILE

William also became interested in this cause through his work as an air ambulance pilot, where he witnessed and responded to many young men in despair and on the verge of suicide. After hearing a story of a little boy who killed himself due to online abuse, William vowed to get involved himself.

"Through my work on mental health, I have spent time getting to know parents and children for whom the impact of online bullying has been devastating," William said. "And as a parent myself, I understand the sense of loss and anger of those particular families who have lost children after they were the targets of campaigns of harassment."

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Prince William releases first-ever online code of conduct to combat cyberbullying

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Prince William announced recommendations today for combating cyberbullying after convening a task force of leading tech companies to look at the issue. The online code of conduct, called "Stop, Speak, Support," is the first in the world of its kind. Its aim is to create a safer space online for...

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Victims’ perceptions of traditional and cyberbullying, and the psychosocial correlates of their victimisation

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Victims’ perceptions of traditional and cyberbullying, and the psychosocial correlates of their victimisation

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The correlates of victims mental health revealed that cybervictims reported significantly more social difficulties, and higher levels of anxiety and depression than traditional victims.

Instagram tops cyber-bullying study

Research from anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label suggests social media is making youngsters more anxious.

Forty per cent said they felt bad if nobody liked their selfies and 35% said their confidence was directly linked to the number of followers they had.

Instagram was highlighted as having become the vehicle most used for mean comments.

Seven per cent of young social network users said they had been bullied on the Facebook-owned photo app.

That compared to a figure of 6% for Facebook itself, 5% for Snapchat and 2% for Twitter and YouTube.

One expert said children were growing up in "a culture of antagonism".

Instagram said it encouraged users to report bullying content.

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Online media resulting in bullying in class.

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Online media resulting in bullying in class.

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A 15-year-old girl killed herself after being plagued by rumors that an ex-boyfriend had posted intimate photos of her on social media and incessant bullying from classmates about her hair - and then a photo of her dead body was leaked to a popular messaging app.

Karina Saifer Oliveira, who lived in Brazil, seemed like a typical teenager. Her parents said she was smart and wanted to study law. They said they had no idea that she was thinking of suicide.

"I wouldn't wish this on any mother," Karina's mother, Angela Saifer, 46, said. "We don't know what was going to happen in our lives. If I'd known..."

The last contact Saifer had with her daughter was a WhatsApp message in the early afternoon of Nov. 7 - the same day she killed herself - asking if it would be all right to go out to work on something for school. That afternoon, she had lunch with her stepfather. Her mother said that aside from being a "little worried" that Karina hadn't replied to her last message, she didn't sense that anything was out of the ordinary.

"I asked where she was and she didn't answer after that. Then I got a little worried, but I thought she'd gone out," Saifer said.

When her mother got home from her job at a sugar factory, she found her daughter's body on the back porch.

"Her cell phone was on her bed," Saifer said. "I called, 'Karina!' She didn't answer. I saw the back door was open. I left my backpack on the table. By the time I got to the back [where the porch is], I'd come upon the scene."

Karina was in her first year of high school in an area roughly 500 miles from São Paulo and was living through a year of torment, according to her family.

When she was 14, Karina had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old guy. There'd been gossip that he'd spread intimate photos of her around, like a trophy. Police are looking into whether or not the photos ever actually existed.

The story spread quickly throughout the city of Nova Andradina, which has only 50,000 residents. Her school has about 900 students.

"Two months ago, she came to talk to me, saying that she was feeling like a trashy person because this had happened to her. I said it didn't have anything to do with her," Karina's father, Aparecido Oliveira, 47, said. "I only found out what had happened after the guy was no longer living in our town."

Karina, who was biracial, was also being harassed by other students who teased her about her appearance, especially her curly hair. She used to straighten it.

"She didn't like her hair because people kept criticizing her about it. That's racism," her father, who worked as a security guard at her school, said.

It wasn't until after she died that her parents realized the extent of the bullying.

"She was really tormented at school," her father said. "After she died, we saw messages from students on her WhatsApp, hateful ones, from students teasing her about her hair because it was half-afro, because she used a hair straightener. They'd been sending them for over a year."

Although racial discrimination is a crime punishable by imprisonment, racism is deeply rooted in Brazilian society. Bullying is also a large problem in the country. Just last month a 14-year-old private school student who claimed to be the victim of bullying fatally shot two classmates.

The principal, Acácio Sampaio, said that the school was aware that Karina seemed sad and "had a distant look," but didn't know that she was being bullied.

"We didn't know what was going on. The problem with bullying is the silence," Sampaio said.

It wasn't until after a student came forward a couple of weeks before Karina killed herself and said that she had tried taking poison that the school intervened.

"We called her in and she opened up, talked about the bullying, the problems. We called her father, who was on vacation. We spoke. She didn't feel good about her hair. We didn't identify who was doing the bullying, but we've spoken with all the students," Sampaio said.

Karina's father said that he had been planning to move with her to another city.

Her mother, however, said that her daughter hadn't shown any obvious signs of what was going on in her life.

"She's always been very sweet. Lately, she'd sit on my lap, kicking her legs to the side, and just run her hands through my hair," said Saifer. "I asked if anything was going on. And she would say no. 'I'm just giving you a hug,' she'd say. I didn't know anything was happening."

As is turns out, Karina's story didn't end with her suicide. After her death, one her sisters received a photo of the teenager's corpse in a WhatsApp group. The photo was taken at the scene of the suicide.

"The only ones who went in [the house] were the crime scene expert and the police. I keep asking myself who could have leaked those photos. No strangers went in there," Karina's mother said.

The family filed a complaint about the leaked images with the Nova Andradina Police Department, which is investigating the teenager's death. Police commissioner Luiz Quirino Antunes Gago said the department would determine if there was a break in procedural confidentiality, but denied that the leak was made by the police. BuzzFeed News couldn't locate the crime scene expert who worked on the case.

The commissioner added that in the coming days, an autopsy report should confirm the manner of Karina's death. However, he said, investigations into her father's allegations of bullying have little chance of any legal outcome.

"There even exists a crime in the penal code, about instigating suicide, but it would be a direct-cause type of thing. In the case of bullying, there is a symbolic effect regarding suicide, but it doesn't speak directly to the person [killing herself]," the commissioner said.

In recent weeks, Karina's school was still displaying "Yellow September" advisory signs regarding Suicide Prevention Month. School principal Acácio says the school has made efforts to talk to the students about bullying and grief following Karina's death.

Karina's 32 classmates will take a class with a psychologist to talk about grief and bullying. The principal and school supervisors already had what Acácio considered "sorrowful conversations," with the students, in which students talked about how they could have helped their classmate.

"The students were left with a sense of impotence," said Acácio. "We've also been talking about the photos of her death, to not share them, because it's a crime and it makes the family suffer even more."
This post was translated from Portuguese.

Tatiana Farah é Repórter do BuzzFeed e trabalha em São Paulo. Entre em contato com ela pelo email tatiana.farah@buzzfeed.com.

Contact Tatiana Farah at Tatiana.Farah@buzzfeed.com.

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A Teen Killed Herself After Being Tormented By Rumors That An Ex Had Shared Intimate Photos Of Her

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A 15-year-old girl killed herself after being plagued by rumors that an ex-boyfriend had posted intimate photos of her on social media and incessant bullying from classmates about her hair - and then a photo of her dead body was leaked to a popular messaging app.