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CATEGORY/THEME: Epidemiology and Etiology
ABSTRACT BODY:
INTRODUCTION: Suicide is the third leading cause of death in youth in the U.S. and is an issue that warrants further investigation and prevention efforts. It is especially relevant to address this issue in the foster care population, as youth in the system are four to five times more likely to be hospitalized for suicide attempts than the general population. Peer support and positive relationships have been identified as a protective factor against suicidal ideation in adolescents, demonstrating the importance of peer relationships in healthy emotional development. Conversely, bullying and peer victimization have been linked to higher rates of suicidal ideation (Espelage & Holt, 2012). A form of peer victimization, namely relational aggression, or bullying via social exclusion, is more commonly reported among girls than boys. Since boys and girls are socialized to behave and bully differently from each other, it is important to attend to gender when examining risk profiles. Using a sample of girls in the foster care system, we examined the link between suicidal ideation and peer relationships, hypothesizing that girls who perpetrated more relational aggression and engaged in negative peer interactions would report more suicidal ideation over time than their counterparts who report less negative peer interactions.
METHODS: The sample used in this study (N = 100; mean girl age at baseline = 11.54) was part of the Middle School Success Project, a girl-specific adaptation of the KEEP intervention (Chamberlain et al., 2007). At baseline, 12 months, and 24 months, suicidality was assessed using the item “talks about killing self” from the Child Behavior Checklist and relational aggression was assessed using items from the Peer Involvement and Social Skills Questionnaire.
RESULTS: As expected, we found a positive association between suicidality and engagement in relational aggression at baseline (r = .21, p < .05) and 12 months (r = .25, p = .02), with trend-level significance at 24 months (r = .20, p= .06). This preliminary relationship will be further explored using multiple regression analyses to assess the unique and prospective impact of relational aggression on change in suicidality over time, controlling for the effects of important confounds (e.g., depression).
CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the connection between relational aggression and suicidality is essential for developing preventative interventions that can ameliorate risk for negative mental health outcomes. Given their higher rates of suicide, it is especially crucial to address this issue for girls in foster care. Evidence of prospective links between relational aggression and suicidality during later years would justify more universal approaches to prevention that can start at a young age.