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Associations Between Peer Victimization and Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempt During Adolescence: Results From a Prospective Population-Based Birth Cohort

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Objective

To test whether adolescents who are victimized by peers are at heightened risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt, using both cross-sectional and prospective investigations.

Method

Participants are from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a general population sample of children born in Quebec in 1997 through 1998 and followed up until 15 years of age. Information about victimization and serious suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in the past year was obtained at ages 13 and 15 years from self-reports (N = 1,168).

Results

Victims reported concurrently higher rates of suicidal ideation at age 13 years (11.6–14.7%) and suicide attempt at age 15 years (5.4–6.8%) compared to those who had not been victimized (2.7–4.1% for suicidal ideation and 1.6–1.9% for suicide attempt). Being victimized by peers at 13 years predicted suicidal ideation (odds ratio [OR] = 2.27; 95% CI = 1.25–4.12) and suicide attempt (OR = 3.05, 95% CI = 1.36–6.82) 2 years later, even after adjusting for baseline suicidality and mental health problems and a series of confounders (socioeconomic status, intelligence, family's functioning and structure, hostile-reactive parenting, maternal lifetime suicidal ideation/suicide attempt). Those who were victimized at both 13 and 15 years had the highest risk of suicidal ideation (OR = 5.41, 95% CI = 2.53–11.53) and suicide attempt (OR = 5.85, 95% CI = 2.12–16.18) at 15 years.

Conclusion

Victimization is associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt over and above concurrent suicidality and prior mental health problems. The longer the history of victimization, the greater the risk.

Section snippets

Sample

The Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) is a representative cohort of 2,120 youths born in the Canadian province of Quebec in 1997 through 1998. Data were collected annually or biannually from 1998 through 2013.

In the present study, we included 1,168 participants for whom measures of peer victimization and suicidality were collected at both 13 and 15 years of age, for 55% of the original cohort. To adjust for attrition, we conducted analyses with and without inverse

Results

The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation slightly increased from 4.5% at age 13 years to 5.9% at age 15 years. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher and increased for females (5.3−8.6%) compared to males (3.7−3.0%) (Table 1). The prevalence of suicide attempt increased between 13 and 15 years for females (2.7−4.5%) and decreased for males (2.1−0.9%) (Table 1). The prevalence of peer victimization was 16.7% for females and 25.8% for males at age 13 and 17.5% for females and 17.2% for

Discussion

During adolescence, the peer group becomes increasingly important. Thus, being victimized by peers (i.e., being frequently teased/called names or excluded from social groups and activities) can represent a major source of stress, with potentially damaging consequences.37, 38 In this population-based sample, such victimization experiences were common, with 17–21% of 13- to 15-year-old adolescents reporting being often or very often victimized by their peers. Such victimized adolescents

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    Clinical guidance is available at the end of this article.

    This study was conducted with help from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grants OGE#111395 and MOP#114984 awarded to M.B. and S.M.C. and R.E.T.) and Manulife research fund in teen depression (J.R.). The larger Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) study was also supported by funding from the Québec Government’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Family Affairs, The Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the Québec Health Research Fund (FQRS), The Québec Research Fund for Society and Culture (FQRSC), Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the St-Justine Research Centre, and the Québec Statistics Institute (ISQ) (R.E.T.). S.M.C. is a senior research fellow of the FRQS. http://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/en/ http://fondationchagnon.org/en/index.aspx http://www.frqs.gouv.qc.ca/en/ http://www.frqsc.gouv.qc.ca/fr/accueil.php http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/homeaccueileng.aspx http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca.

    The authors thank David Gunnell, PhD, of the University of Bristol, for his contribution to the paper and all the participants of the QLSCD.

    Disclosure: Drs. Geoffroy, Boivin, Arseneault, Turecki, Vitaro, Brendgen, Renaud, Séguin, Tremblay, and Côté report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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