Static initializer references subclass

Reports classes that refer to their subclasses in static initializers or static fields.

Such references can cause JVM-level deadlocks in multithreaded environment, when one thread tries to load the superclass and another thread tries to load the subclass at the same time.

Example:

  class Parent {
    static final Child field = new Child();
  }
  class Child extends Parent { }

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

StaticInitializerReferencesSubClass

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Java | Threading issues

Inspection ID: StaticInitializerReferencesSubClass

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection StaticInitializerReferencesSubClass

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3, Qodana for JVM 2025.3,

Last modified: 03 December 2025