Citation

Terrell KR, Zeglin RJ, Palmer RE, Moore MJ, Barr EM. J. Child Adolesc. Couns. 2021; 7(1): 1-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/23727810.2020.1835411

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Depression and suicide are major public health concerns, and the number of youths impacted by these phenomena continues to grow. With the detrimental impact depression can have on children and adolescents, it is imperative that researchers explore risks for depression and suicidality to develop prevention programs and inform clinical practice. One such risk factor identified in the literature is being victimized by an interpersonal trauma. Past researchers also report a relationship between depression/suicidality and substance use. The purpose of this study was to examine if there was a significant interaction effect between substance use and experiencing an interpersonal trauma when predicting depression/suicidality in high school students (n = 3,128). A hierarchical logistic regression revealed a statistically significant model, χ2 (9) = 446.41, p <.001, accounting for 17.7% of variance in depression/suicidality. Specifically, the effect of interpersonal violence on depression/suicidality was significantly stronger for adolescents who used substances than those who did not. The findings suggest that substance use does act as a moderator between trauma and depression/suicidality, and substance use more dramatically increases depression/suicidality for students who experience an interpersonal trauma.

Language: en

Keywords

depression; High school students; prevention; substance use; suicidality; trauma