Adolescents Transitioning to High School: Sex Differences in Bullying Victimization Associated With Depressive Symptoms, Suicide Ideation, and Suicide Attempts

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Williams ◽  
Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling ◽  
Cory Wornell ◽  
Heather Finnegan

Adolescents transitioning to high school may be at greater risk of depression and suicide if they are victims of bullying behavior. This study explored sex differences in bullying victimization (physical, verbal/social, and cyberbullying) and the impact on depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors in ninth-grade students ( N = 233). Females reported significantly more verbal/social and cyberbullying than male students. There were no significant sex differences in physical bullying; male students who reported physical bullying victimization were more likely to experience depressive symptoms. Verbal/social bullying predicted depressive symptoms in males and females. Females who reported being victims of cyberbullying were more likely to report depressive symptoms, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts. Eighteen students reported suicide attempts, and each also experienced verbal/social bullying. School nurses are positioned to reach out to transitioning students, screen for mental health issues, provide a safe place to talk about bullying experiences, and promote positive mental health.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant L. Iverson ◽  
Amy Deep-Soboslay ◽  
Thomas M. Hyde ◽  
Joel E. Kleinman ◽  
Brittany Erskine ◽  
...  

Introduction: It is reasonable to estimate that tens of millions of men in the United States played high school football. There is societal concern that participation in football confers risk for later-in-life mental health problems. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is an association between a personal history of playing high school football and death by suicide.Methods: The subjects were obtained from the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) brain donation program in collaboration with the Office of the Medical Examiner at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine. Donor history was documented via medical records, mental health records, and telephone interviews with the next-of-kin.Results: The sample included 198 men aged 50 or older (median = 65.0 years, interquartile range = 57–75). There were 34.8% who participated in contact sports during high school (including football), and 29.8% participated in high school football. Approximately one-third of the sample had suicide as their manner of death (34.8%). There was no statistically significant difference in the proportions of suicide as a manner of death among those men with a personal history of playing football compared to men who did not play football or who did not play sports (p = 0.070, Odds Ratio, OR = 0.537). Those who played football were significantly less likely to have a lifetime history of a suicide attempt (p = 0.012, OR = 0.352). Men with mood disorders (p < 0.001, OR = 10.712), substance use disorders (p < 0.020, OR = 2.075), and those with a history of suicide ideation (p < 0.001, OR = 8.038) or attempts (p < 0.001, OR = 40.634) were more likely to have suicide as a manner of death. Moreover, those men with a family history of suicide were more likely to have prior suicide attempts (p = 0.031, OR = 2.153) and to have completed suicide (p = 0.001, OR = 2.927).Discussion: Suicide was related to well-established risk factors such as a personal history of a mood disorder, substance abuse disorder, prior suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and a family history of suicide attempts. This study adds to a steadily growing body of evidence suggesting that playing high school football is not associated with increased risk for suicidality or suicide during adulthood.


Crisis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Teismann ◽  
Laura Paashaus ◽  
Paula Siegmann ◽  
Peter Nyhuis ◽  
Marcus Wolter ◽  
...  

Abstract. Background: Suicide ideation is a prerequisite for suicide attempts. However, the majority of ideators will never act on their thoughts. It is therefore crucial to understand factors that differentiate those who consider suicide from those who make suicide attempts. Aim: Our aim was to investigate the role of protective factors in differentiating non-ideators, suicide ideators, and suicide attempters. Method: Inpatients without suicide ideation ( n = 32) were compared with inpatients with current suicide ideation ( n = 37) and with inpatients with current suicide ideation and a lifetime history of suicide attempts ( n = 26) regarding positive mental health, self-esteem, trust in higher guidance, social support, and reasons for living. Results: Non-ideators reported more positive mental health, social support, reasons for living, and self-esteem than suicide ideators and suicide attempters did. No group differences were found regarding trust in higher guidance. Suicide ideators and suicide attempters did not differ regarding any of the study variables. Limitations: Results stem from a cross-sectional study of suicide attempts; thus, neither directionality nor generalizability to fatal suicide attempts can be determined. Conclusion: Various protective factors are best characterized to distinguish ideators from nonsuicidal inpatients. However, the same variables seem to offer no information about the difference between ideators and attempters.


Author(s):  
Laetitia Idier ◽  
Aurélie Untas ◽  
Nicole Rascle ◽  
Michèle Koleck ◽  
Maider Aguirrezabal ◽  
...  

Introduction:Psychological impact of Therapeutic Patient Education (TPE) for dialysis patients is rarely evaluated since the focus of many studies is on medical variables (i.e., adherence).Objectives:The aims of this study were: 1) to estimate the impact of a TPE program on knowledge, depression and anxiety, 2) to examine change in knowledge as a mediator of the effects of a TPE program on mental health.Method:This study was conducted in three hemodialysis units and comprised two groups: an experimental group with education and a control group with routine care. The program was based of 5 educative sessions. Knowledge, depressive and anxious symptoms were assessed with self-reported outcomes measured before and 3 months after the program.Results:The sample comprised 125 patients. Knowledge about vascular access and nutrition (p < 0.01) and depressive symptoms increased in the experimental group (p < 0.01). Analysis of mediation showed that changes in knowledge about vascular access were a significant mediator of the effects of the program on depressive symptoms (F = 4.90;p = 0.01).Discussion:Knowledge acquired during an educational program could lead to an emotional change. Improving knowledge often leads to an awareness of the risks that can modify the psychological state of patients by reminding them of their vulnerability. This study shows that it is required to be attentive to the way of transmitting knowledge. It’s necessary adapting this transmission to the needs of patients and promoting the acquisition of psychosocial competence too.Conclusion:This study shows that knowledge acquired during an educational program can lead to an emotional change in the short term. A long-term follow-up of the population should be interesting to observe these emotional effects.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A294-A295
Author(s):  
Emma Palermo ◽  
Jennifer Goldschmied ◽  
Elaine Boland ◽  
Elizabeth A Klingaman ◽  
Philip Gehrman ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Military personnel are at an increased risk for suicide compared to the general population, making it important to develop a deeper understanding of which factors contribute to this elevated risk. Given that suicidal ideation (SI) is one of the strongest predictors of suicide attempts, understanding factors that underlie SI may improve prevention efforts. Insomnia and depression both serve as independent risk factors for SI, and therefore the aim of this study was to examine the extent to which depressive symptoms moderate the association between insomnia and SI. Methods Data were obtained from the All Army Study of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (STARRS). Soldiers (n=21,450) completed questions related to suicidal ideation (5 items), depressive symptoms (9 items), and insomnia (5 items) based on symptom presence in the past 30 days. Items in each domain were summed to create a total severity score. GEE models using a negative binomial linking function were conducted to examine the impact of depression, insomnia, and their interaction on SI. Results Both depression (χ2 =117.56, p&lt;0.001) and insomnia (χ2=11.79, p=0.0006) were found to have significant main effects on SI, and there was a significant interaction effect (χ2=4.52, p=0.0335). Follow up simple effects revealed that insomnia was no longer significantly associated with SI when depression severity was low, but was associated with SI in the presence of greater depression severity (χ2=2.91, p=0.0882). Conclusion In a large sample of Army soldiers, depression significantly moderated the association between SI and insomnia, such that insomnia seems to amplify the effects of depression on SI. These findings highlight the importance of addressing insomnia severity as a mean of reducing SI in those with depression, potentially allowing for intervention prior to a suicide attempt. Support (if any) Perlis: K24AG055602 & R01AG041783. This publication is based on public use data from Army STARRS (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan- http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35197-v1), funded by U.S. NIMH-U01MH087981.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivienne de Vogel ◽  
Nienke Verstegen

Purpose Incidents of self-injury by forensic psychiatric patients often have a deleterious impact on all those involved. Moreover, self-injurious behaviour is an important predictor for violence towards others during treatment. The aim of this study is to analyse methods and severity of incidents of self-injury of patients admitted to forensic psychiatry, as well as the diagnoses of self-injuring patients. Design/methodology/approach All incidents of self-injury during treatment in a forensic psychiatric centre recorded between 2008 and 2019 were analysed and the severity was coded with the modified observed aggression scale+ (MOAS+). Findings In this period, 299 incidents of self-injury were recorded, displayed by 106 patients. Most of these incidents (87.6%) were classified as non-suicidal. Methods most often used were skin cutting with glass, broken plates, a razor or knife and swallowing dangerous objects or liquids. Ten patients died by suicide, almost all by suffocation with a rope or belt. The majority of the incidents was coded as severe or extreme with the MOAS+. Female patients were overrepresented and they caused on average three times more incidents than male patients. Practical implications More attention is warranted for self-injurious behaviour during forensic treatment considering the distressing consequences for both patients themselves, supervisors and witnesses. Adequate screening for risk of self-injurious behaviour could help to prevent this behaviour. Further research is needed in different forensic settings into predictors of self-injurious behaviour, more specifically, if there are distinct predictors for aggression to others versus to the self. Originality/value Incidents of self-injury occur with some regularity in forensic mental health care and are usually classified as severe. The impact of suicide (attempts) and incidents of self-injurious behaviour on all those involved can be enormous. More research is needed into the impact on all those involved, motivations, precipitants and functions of self-injurious behaviour and effective treatment of it.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S880-S880
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Lin

Abstract As the processes of urbanization and globalization have intensified across the world, a burgeoning literature has documented the impact of emigration on the health of family members left behind in emigrant communities. Although the association between children’s migration and parental well-being is well documented, few have examined the health implications of children’s migration in the milieu of multiple children and further differentiated between children’s short-term and long-term migration. Therefore, I argue that it is not the geographic locality of a single child but the composition of all children’s location that matters. I further suggest that the impact of children’s migration on parental wellbeing is conditioned on the duration of children’s migration. Using a six waves longitudinal data (2001-2015) collected in rural China, this paper compares mental health (measured as depressive symptoms) trajectories of old adults (aged 60 and older) across different compositions of local and migrant children over a 14-year span. Results from growth curve models show that parents having more migrant children relative to local children experience a more rapid increase in depressive symptoms. In addition, older adults who have their most children migrate away for three or more waves of data have experienced the steepest rate of increase in depressive symptoms. These findings provide new evidence to support the life course processes of mental health disparities among older adults from the perspective of intergenerational proximity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolie B. Wormwood ◽  
Madeleine Devlin ◽  
Yu-Ru Lin ◽  
Lisa Feldman Barrett ◽  
Karen S. Quigley

Media exposure influences mental health symptomology in response to salient aversive events, like terrorist attacks, but little has been done to explore the impact of news coverage that varies more subtly in affective content. Here, we utilized an existing data set in which participants self-reported physical symptoms, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, and completed a potentiated startle task assessing their physiological reactivity to aversive stimuli at three time points (waves) over a 9-month period. Using a computational linguistics approach, we then calculated an average ratio of words with positive vs. negative affective connotations for only articles from news sources to which each participant self-reported being exposed over the prior 2 weeks at each wave of data collection. As hypothesized, individuals exposed to news coverage with more negative affective tone over the prior 2 weeks reported significantly greater physical and depressive symptoms, and had significantly greater physiological reactivity to aversive stimuli.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S356-S356 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Matos ◽  
J. Duarte ◽  
C. Duarte ◽  
J. Pinto-Gouveia ◽  
P. Gilbert

IntroductionCompassion and self-compassion can be protective factors against mental health difficulties, in particular depression. The cultivation of the compassionate self, associated with a range of practices such as slow and deeper breathing, compassionate voice tones and facial expressions, and compassionate focusing, is central to compassion focused therapy (Gilbert, 2010). However, no study has examined the processes of change that mediate the impact of compassionate self-cultivation practices on depressive symptoms.AimsThe aim of this study is to investigate the impact of a brief compassionate self training (CST) intervention on depressive symptoms, and explore the psychological processes that mediate the change at post intervention.MethodsUsing a longitudinal design, participants (general population and college students) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Compassionate self training (n = 56) and wait-list control (n = 37). Participants in the CST condition were instructed to practice CST exercises for 15 minutes everyday or in moments of stress during two weeks. Self-report measures of depression, self-criticism, shame and compassion, were completed at pre and post in both conditions.ResultsResults showed that, at post-intervention, participants in the CST condition decreased depression, self-criticism and shame, and increased self-compassion and openness to receive compassion from others. Mediation analyses revealed that changes in depression from pre to post intervention were mediated by decreases in self-criticism and shame, and increases in self-compassion and openness to the compassion from others.ConclusionsThese findings support the efficacy of compassionate self training components on lessening depressive symptoms and promoting mental health.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon L. Boring ◽  
Kaitlyn T. Walsh ◽  
Namrata Nanavaty ◽  
Vani A. Mathur

The experience of pain is subjective, yet many people have their pain invalidated or not believed. Pain invalidation is associated with poor mental health, including depression and lower well-being. Qualitative investigations of invalidating experiences identify themes of depression, but also social withdrawal, self-criticism, and lower self-worth, all of which are core components of shame. Despite this, no studies have quantitatively assessed the interrelationship between pain invalidation, shame, and depression. To explore this relationship, participants recounted the frequency of experienced pain invalidation from family, friends, and medical professionals, as well as their feelings of internalized shame and depressive symptoms. As shame has been shown to be a precursor for depression, we further explored the role of shame as a mediator between pain invalidation and depressive symptoms. All sources of pain invalidation were positively associated with shame and depressive symptoms, and shame fully mediated the relationship between each source of pain invalidation and depression. Relative to other sources, pain invalidation from family was most closely tied to shame and depression. Overall, findings indicate that one mechanism by which pain invalidation may facilitate depression is via the experience of shame. Future research may explore shame as a potential upstream precursor to depression in the context of pain. Findings provide more insight into the harmful influence of pain invalidation on mental health and highlight the impact of interpersonal treatment on the experiences of people in pain.


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