Suicidality in 12-Year-Olds: The Interaction Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Suicidality in 12‑Year‑Olds: The Interaction Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health Gabrielle Simcock1 · Thu Andersen1 · Larisa T. McLoughlin1 · Denise Beaudequin1 · Marcella Parker1 · Amanda Clacy1 · Jim Lagopoulos1 · Daniel F. Hermens1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) are a leading cause of death in adolescence. To date, most research with youth has focused on risk factors for suicide; and less attention has been paid to resilience factors. This study examined whether positive beliefs and social connectedness moderate associations between mental health symptoms and STB. A community sample of 12-year-olds (N = 60) completed self-report questionnaires on their STB, mental health symptoms, positive beliefs and social connectedness. Nearly 20% of the adolescents reported STB. STB was associated with increased mental health symptoms and lower scores on the resilience measures. A significant moderating effect of social connectedness showed that youth with a combination of poor mental health and high levels of social support exhibited lower levels of STB. There was no significant moderating effect of positive beliefs. These results indicate that social support should be screened for in primary care and incorporated into youth suicide prevention programs. Keywords Suicide · Positive beliefs · Social connectedness · Mental health · Adolescence
Introduction Suicide is a serious public health concern and is the leading cause of death among youth aged between 5 and 17 years in Western countries [1]. Consistent with other developed nations, in Australia, suicide is the leading preventable cause of death in young people: in 2018 100 young Australians died by suicide [2]. Although the majority of these deaths (n = 78) were in youth aged 15–17 years; suicide is also serious concern earlier in development with 22 young people aged 5–14 years dying by suicide. Although these figures represent the number of young people who died by suicide, it is important to recognise that many more young people may attempt suicide or have suicidal ideation [3]. Suicidal ideation, which ranges from feeling that life is not worth living through to plans for killing oneself, is relatively common in adolescence with 12–26% reporting such feelings in the past year [4]. Suicidal ideation is a serious matter as it increases risk for suicide attempts and for death by suicide * Gabrielle Simcock [email protected] 1
Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, 12 Innovation Parkway, Birtinya, QLD 4575, Australia
[5, 6]. These youth suicide thoughts and behavior (STB) [7] statistics demonstrate the need to further understand early risk and resilience factors in order to best support vulnerable young people [8, 9]. Historically, identifying risk factors associated with youth STB has been a major, and important, focus of suicide prevention research [10]. To a lesser extent, resilience factors against youth STB have been examined [8,
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