Suicidal Ideation and Victimization in Adolescents -- brief review
Nov 12, 2012
Today, a brief review from Medscape in their Continuing Medical Education series -- [LINK]
- Among youth who experienced peer victimization in the past year, the risk for suicidal ideation was 2.4 timesgreater vs children without this history.
- Among youth who were sexually assaulted in the past year, the risk for suicidal ideation was 3.4 times greater vs children without this history.
- Among youth who experienced maltreatment by a parent or caregiver, including physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and/or custodial interference in the past year, the risk for suicidal ideation was 4.4 times greater vs children without this history.
- Effects of polyvictimization, or exposure to 7 or more individual types of victimization in the past year, were substantial, with youth exposed to many different forms of victimization almost 6 times more likely to report suicidal ideation.
- Therefore, polyvictimization was the strongest predictor of suicidal ideation.
- There was also a substantial association between suicidal ideation and living in a household with a stepparent or unmarried parent partner, which was not fully explained by victimization.
On the basis of these findings, the investigators concluded that recent victimization is important in increasing the risk for suicidal ideation in adolescents.
The investigators also suggest that exposure to many different forms of victimizationlikely reflects significant adversity across multiple contexts of adolescents' lives, with victimization representing more of a life condition than a set of events for such youth.
To me, the finding that "substantial association between suicidal ideation and living in a household with a stepparent or unmarried parent partner" argues the need for parents and caregivers to be aware of these factors, relating to quality of attachment, and take proactive steps to improve attachment, rather than relying on "luck" or "time" alone to prevent difficulties arising (imho, speaking with the benefit of hindsight and personal experience).