A group of British psychologists recently decided to investigate the great scientific mystery of whether goths are more likely than other teens to be depressed. Their study, out today (August 28), suggests, to the surprise of no one, that the answer is yes.

Meanwhile, another amazingly-timed study now suggests that the findings of many psychological studies might not actually mean very much.

The goth study, published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, asked 3,694 15-year-olds in the UK whether they identified as "goth," "sporty," "populars," "loners," "bimbos," or a number of other social categories with definitions that seem to have been taken from bad teen movies. The BBC explained that for the purposes of the study, "The term goth referred to teenagers who had a reputation of rebelling against the norm, in clothing or ideas for example, or avoided conforming to social ideals."

Then they looked at indicators for symptoms of depression in the teens, and found that the more a young person identified with "contemporary goth subculture," the more likely it was that they'd also experienced bullying, attempted self-harm, and shown signs of depression before the age of 15.

On the other hand, the study-debunking study, published in the journal Science, suggests that when it comes to psychological studies like these, the validity of results can be pretty iffy.

Researchers at the University of Virginia started the "Reproducability Project" because a number of big-deal psychological studies have been retracted due to concerns over faking or manipulating data in the last several years -- including that one that famously suggested people's ideas about gay marriage could be radically changed after a quick chat with a gay canvasser.

The researchers looked at 100 studies using a statistical metric to measure the likelihood that the results did not occur purely by chance, and found that results from 62 of the psychological studies didn't hold up. Results from only 35 of the studies did make the cut, and three of the studies weren't included because their significance was unclear. This doesn't mean that the results of the all of the original studies were false or incorrect -- just that the results were significantly weaker than researchers originally suggested.

So...should goth kids and those who love them be worried?

According to the BBC, the researchers in the goth study admit that it's impossible to really determine cause and effect, (do teens become goth because they're depressed, or are they depressed because they're goth?) and suggested that "parents should not attempt to dissuade their children from belonging to a goth group as having friends and identifying with a community could protect them from depression."

Goth blogger Tim Sinister told the BBC he thinks that actually, goth kids are just more honest about their depression than others. "The goth scene is more tolerant and open to discussing depression," he said, "whereas society as a whole has more stigma around discussing mental health."

Excellent point, Sinister. Sulk on in good health, goth kids.