Citation

Koyanagi A, Oh H, Carvalho AF, Smith L, Haro JM, Vancampfort D, Stubbs B, Devylder JE. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, Bronx, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1016/j.jaac.2018.10.018

PMID

30926574

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Adolescent suicide is a global public health problem. Bullying is a risk factor for suicidality in adolescence; however, global data on its association with suicide attempts are lacking, and data from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and non-Western settings are scarce. Thus, we assessed the association between bullying victimization and suicide attempts using data from 48 countries (predominantly LMICs) across multiple continents.

METHOD: Data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey were analyzed. Data on past 12-month suicide attempts and past-30 day bullying victimization were collected. Multivariable logistic regression and meta-analysis with random effects were conducted to assess the associations.

RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 134,229 adolescents aged 12-15 years. The overall prevalence of suicide attempts and bullying victimization were 10.7% and 30.4%, respectively. After adjustment for sex, age, and socioeconomic status, bullying victimization was significantly associated with higher odds for a suicide attempt in 47 of the 48 countries studied with the pooled OR being 3.06 (95%CI=2.73-3.43). Greater number of days bullied in the past month was dose-dependently associated with higher odds for suicide attempts. The past-year prevalence of suicide attempts ranged from 5.9% for the "no bullying" group up to 32.7% for the "being bullied for 20-30 days/month" group [OR=5.51 (95%CI=4.56-6.65)].

CONCLUSION: Bullying victimization may be an important risk factor of suicide attempts among adolescents globally. Thus, there is an urgent need to implement effective and evidence-based interventions to address bullying in order to prevent suicides and suicide attempts among adolescents worldwide.

Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

bullying; global health; peer victimization; suicide attempt