Dataset Information

Peer Victimization and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Depressed Adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth worldwide, and depressed adolescents are at a significantly elevated risk to report suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts. Peer victimization is a robust predictor of adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), but little research has focused on why bullying leads to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. To address this empirical gap, we recruited 340 (246 female) depressed adolescents ages 13-19 (M = 15.59, SD = 1.41) within 48 h of admission for acute psychiatric treatment. At the initial assessment, participants were administered clinical interviews characterizing psychopathology, nonsuicidal self-injury, and STBs (ideation, plans, and attempts). Further, they completed questionnaires assessing 3 forms of victimization (overt, relational, and reputational), recent risky behavior engagement, and psychiatric symptom severity. Controlling for internalizing symptoms and age, overt and reputational bullying were associated with more frequent past month suicide attempts, but not suicide ideation. Past month risky behavior engagement, but not NSSI, mediated the relation between victimization and attempts. However, sex differences revealed that this effect only held for males whereas bullying was directly associated with suicide attempts among females. In contrast, overt and relational bullying were non-linearly associated with suicide plans, and these relations were not mediated by risky behaviors or NSSI. Results highlight the complex network of factors that lead victimized adolescents to engage in STBs and may inform targeted suicide prevention and intervention programs.

SUBMITTER: Stewart JG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5656560 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Peer Victimization and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Depressed Adolescents.

Stewart Jeremy G JG Valeri Linda L Esposito Erika C EC Auerbach Randy P RP

Journal of abnormal child psychology 20180401 3

Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth worldwide, and depressed adolescents are at a significantly elevated risk to report suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts. Peer victimization is a robust predictor of adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), but little research has focused on why bullying leads to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. To address this empirical gap, we recruited 340 (246 female) depressed adolescents ages 13-19 (M = 15.59, SD = 1.41) within 48 h of admissio ...[more]

PMID: 28444481

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Project description:ContextSuicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults in Europe. Reducing suicides is therefore a key public health target. Previous studies have shown associations between suicidal behaviors, depression and family factors.ObjectiveTo assess the role of family factors in depression and suicidality in a large community-based sample of adolescents and to explore specific contributions (e.g. mother vs. father; conflict vs. no conflict; separation vs. no separation) taking into account other risk factors.MethodsA cross-sectional sample of adolescents aged 17 years was recruited in 2008. 36,757 French adolescents (18,593 girls and 18,164 boys) completed a questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, drug use, family variables, suicidal ideations and attempts. Current depression was assessed with the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS). Adolescents were divided into 4 groups according to suicide risk severity (grade 1 = depressed without suicidal ideation and without suicide attempts, grade 2 = depressed with suicidal ideations and grade 3 = depressed with suicide attempts; grade 0 = control group). Multivariate regressions were applied to assess the Odds Ratio of potential risk factors comparing grade 1, 2 or 3 risk with grade 0.Results7.5% of adolescents (10.4% among girls vs. 4.5% among boys) had ADRS scores compatible with depression; 16.2% reported suicidal ideations in the past 12 months and 8.2% reported lifetime suicide attempts. Repeating a year in school was significantly associated to severity grade of suicide risk (1 and 3), as well as all substance use, tobacco use (severity grades 2 and 3) and marijuana use (severity grade 3), for girls and boys. After adjustment, negative relationships with either or both parents, and parents living together but with a negative relationship were significantly associated with suicide risk and/or depression in both genders (all risk grades), and Odds Ratios increased according to risk severity grade.ConclusionFamily discord and negative relationship with parents were associated with an increased suicide risk in depressed adolescents. So it appears essential to take intrafamilial relationships into account in depressed adolescents to prevent suicidal behaviours.

Project description:Sexual minority youth (SMY) are at higher risk for victimization and suicide than are heterosexual youth (HY). Relatively little research has examined which types of victimization are most closely linked to suicide, which is necessary to develop targeted prevention interventions. The present study was conducted to address this deficit.The data come from the 2011 Chicago Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 1,907). Structural equation modeling (SEM) in Mplus evaluated the direct, indirect, and total effects of sexual orientation on a latent indicator of suicidal ideation and behaviors via seven types of victimization. Four indicators of victimization were school-specific (e.g., harassment due to sexual orientation or gender identity (SO/GID), bullying, threatened or injured with a weapon, and skipping school due to safety concerns), and three indicators assessed other types of victimization (e.g., electronic bullying, intimate partner violence, and sexual abuse).Thirteen percent of youth were classified as SMY. Significantly more SMY than HY reported suicidal ideation (27.95% vs. 13.64%), a suicide plan (22.78% vs. 12.36%), and at least one suicide attempt (29.92% vs. 12.43%) in the past year (all P < .001). A greater percentage of SMY reported SO/GID-related harassment, skipping school, electronic bullying, and sexual abuse. Sexual orientation was not directly related to suicidal ideation and behaviors in SEM. Rather, SMY's elevated risk of suicidality functioned indirectly through two forms of school-based victimization: being threatened or injured with a weapon (B = .19, SE = .09, P ≤ .05) and experiencing SO/GID-specific harassment (B = .40, SE = .15, P ≤ .01). There also was a trend for SMY to skip school as a strategy to reduce suicide risk.Although SMY experience higher rates of victimization than do HY, school-based victimization that involves weapons or is due to one's SO/GID appear to be the most deleterious. That SMY may skip school to reduce their risk of suicidal ideation and behaviors is problematic, and schools should be encouraged to enact and enforce policies that explicitly protect SMY from victimization.

Dataset Information

Peer Victimization and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Depressed Adolescents.

Publications

Peer Victimization and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Depressed Adolescents.

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