Original article
Longitudinal Associations Between Community Violence Exposure and Suicidality

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.02.015Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To examine longitudinal associations between community violence exposure and suicide ideation and attempt, and whether depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior are intervening variables in this association.

Methods

Participants were 473 urban and predominantly African American adolescents who completed measures of community violence exposure, depressive symptoms, and suicide ideation and attempt in grades 6, 7, and 8; teachers reported about adolescents' aggressive behaviors in grades 6, 7, and 8. Path analysis was used to examine direct and indirect associations between community violence exposure in grade 6 and suicide ideation and attempt in grade 8. Depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior were examined as part of an indirect path from grade 6 community violence exposure to later suicide ideation and attempt.

Results

Results revealed an indirect association between community violence exposure and later suicide ideation for males and females; community violence exposure in grade 6 was associated with depressive symptoms in grade 7, which in turn, were positively associated with suicide ideation in grade 8. For males, community violence exposure in grade 6 was associated with increases in aggressive behavior in grade 7, which in turn, were associated with suicide attempts in grade 8.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 473 middle school students initially assessed in the Fall of first grade as part of an evaluation of two universal school-based preventive interventions whose immediate targets were early learning and aggressive behavior [19]. There were no exclusion criteria for participation in the interventions. Of the 678 children who participated in the intervention trial in grade 1, 473 had written parental consent, provided verbal assent, and had completed measures of CV exposure,

Preliminary analyses

Means and standard deviations of study variables are summarized in Table 1. Males reported significantly more exposure to violence than females (t = 2.62, p < .01). Forty-two percent of males and 32% of females reported exposure to at least one type of CV exposure in sixth grade. CV exposure did not differ according to intervention status.

Teachers reported significantly more aggression in males than females (t = 5.92, p < .001), and females reported more depressive symptoms than males (t =

Discussion

This study identified concurrent and longitudinal associations between CV exposure and suicide ideation for an urban and predominantly African American sample of adolescents. CV exposure was associated with later depressive symptoms, which in turn, were associated with suicidal ideation; however, this indirect association was due in part to stability in depressive symptoms. For males, there was a significant indirect effect of CV exposure on suicide attempt 2 years later; specifically, CV

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the youth, parents, and teachers who participated in this research.

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    This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH057005: PI Ialongo; MH078995: PI Lambert) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA11796) to Dr. Ialongo.

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    Copyright © 2008 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.