Abstract
BackgroundResearch has demonstrated that exposure to suicide can lead to increased vulnerability for self-harm or suicide. As a result, ideation-to-action models of suicide (e.g., the Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of Suicide; IMV) recognise exposure as a significant risk factor which may be implicated in the translation of thoughts into actions. However, few studies have tested this theoretical link explicitly within an adolescent population, and examined how it compares to other types of bereavements.MethodsA 6-month prospective questionnaire study was conducted with 185 Scottish adolescents aged 11–17 (115 adolescents also completed the questionnaire at follow-up). The questionnaire included measures on experiences with bereavement and lifetime engagement in self-harm, as well as measures of defeat, entrapment, social support, coping, and other psychological variables.ResultsAt baseline, 11% of young people reported exposure to a suicide death, and 62% to a non-suicide death. In addition, 21% of pupils reported ever engaging in self-harm, while 24% had experienced self-harm ideation without engaging in it. Cross-sectional multivariate logistic regressions showed that maladaptive coping, family social support, glorifying/normalising beliefs about suicide, and family self-harm were significantly associated with self-harm group membership (control, ideation, or enactment groups). At follow-up, 9% of pupils reported exposure to a suicide death and 11% to a non-suicide death for the first time. A total of 29% of the sample reported self-harm at T2 (8% of participants for the first time), and 23% reported self-harm ideation without engaging in it. Multivariate analyses found that stigmatising beliefs about suicide, glorifying/normalising beliefs about suicide, and self-harm ideation at baseline were the only variables to predict self-harm group membership prospectively. Bereavement experiences, whether by suicide or non-suicide, did not predict self-harm group status at baseline nor at follow-up.ConclusionsThis study provides support for the validity of a theoretical model of suicide, even though predictive ability over the 6-months period was limited. Although difficulties with recruitment may have limited the statistical power, this study provides insight into the prevalence and experiences of suicide bereavement among adolescents and the factors related to the onset and maintenance of self-harm.
Highlights
Suicide is a major public health problem across the globe, representing the second leading cause of death among young people from 15 to 29 years old worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014)
Research has frequently demonstrated that the vast majority of young people who self-harm do not present to hospital, and it is important to go beyond clinical studies to examine the prevalence and causation of adolescent self-harm (Geulayov et al, 2018)
The current study aimed to explore whether exposure to suicide or other deaths is associated with self-harm behaviours cross-sectionally, and longitudinally over a 6-month followup, and examines whether 11 relevant Integrated MotivationalVolitional (IMV) model variables may be important in this relationship
Summary
Suicide is a major public health problem across the globe, representing the second leading cause of death among young people from 15 to 29 years old worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014). Research has frequently demonstrated that the vast majority of young people who self-harm do not present to hospital, and it is important to go beyond clinical studies to examine the prevalence and causation of adolescent self-harm (Geulayov et al, 2018). In Scotland, research examining self-harm within community samples suggests that up to 14% of young people have engaged in (enacted) self-harm (O’Connor et al, 2009b, 2012), and a further 22.8% have thought (ideated) about self-harm (Russell et al, 2018). These findings are comparable to other studies in the United Kingdom (Hawton et al, 2002; McMahon et al, 2010). Few studies have tested this theoretical link explicitly within an adolescent population, and examined how it compares to other types of bereavements
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