What is the Role of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Adolescent Suicide Behaviors?

José Antonio Piqueras,Jesús Rodríguez-Marín,Victoria Soto-Sanz,Carlos García-Oliva

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142511

José Antonio Piqueras, Jesús Rodríguez-Marín + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142511

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Abstract

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 29 years. Specifically, the presence of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology is related to increased risk for suicide at these ages. Few studies have analyzed the relations between these symptoms and their role as mediators in predicting suicide behavior. This study aimed to examine the relation between internalizing and externalizing symptomatology and suicide behaviors through a longitudinal study. The sample consisted of 238 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The data were analyzed via the PROCESS Statistical Package. The main results showed that previous depression symptoms had a significant indirect effect, through previous suicide behaviors and current depression symptoms, on current suicide behaviors, accounting for 61% of the total variance explained. Additionally, being a girl increased this risk. Therefore, the implementation of early identification and intervention programs to address youth symptoms of depression and suicidal behaviors could significantly reduce the risk for future suicidal behaviors in adolescence.

Highlights

Suicide is a public health problem, and is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 29 years [1,2]
According to the results of this study, and with respect to hypothesis 1, the presence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and suicidal behaviors were predictors of the same symptoms longitudinally, only suicidal behavior was a moderate predictor of suicide over time
The main result of this study was that depressive symptoms longitudinally predict suicidal behavior in adolescents, this relation occurs if depression and suicidal behaviors previously occurred at the same time, and depression symptoms persisted longitudinally (t2)

Summary

Introduction

Suicide is a public health problem, and is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 29 years [1,2]. The association between suicide and presence of mental disorders is clear, but uncertain when we consider the only presence of symptoms of emotional and behaviors disorders. These symptoms would correspond to internalizing and externalizing behaviors and symptoms, following Achenbach, Edelbrock, & Howell’s [24] classification, with internalizing symptoms entailing manifestations of anxious, depressive, and somatic problems, and externalizing symptoms including problems related to aggressiveness, inattentiveness, disobedience, and criminal behavior. The presence of emotional and behavioral disturbances appears as a recurrent predictor in several

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