The authors held that most self-harm by teens was done before joining the subculture, and that joining the subculture would actually protect them and help them deal with distress in their lives.[109][110] The authors insisted on the study being based on small numbers and on the need of replication to confirm the results.[109][110] The study was criticized for using only a small sample of goth teens and not taking into account other influences and differences between types of goths; by taking a study from a larger number of people.[lower-alpha 1][111][112][113]