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Published on: July 10, 2017
Bullying and suicidal behaviors among urban high school youth
Lisa Hepburn1, Deborah Azrael, Beth Molnar
1Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Purpose:
To determine whether involvement in bullying as a perpetrator, victim, or both victim and perpetrator (victim-perpetrator) was associated with a higher risk of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts among a multiethnic urban high school population in the United States.
Methods:
In 2008, a total of 1,838 youth in 9th-12th grades attending public high school in Boston, MA, completed an in-school, self-reported survey of health-related behaviors. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between bullying behaviors and self-reported suicidal ideation and suicide attempts within the 12 months preceding the survey.
Results:
Students who reported having been involved in bullying as a perpetrator, victim, or victim-perpetrator were more likely than those who had not been involved in bullying to report having seriously considered or attempted suicide within the past year. When age, race/ethnicity, and gender were controlled, students who were victim-perpetrators of bullying were at highest risk for both suicidal ideation and suicide attempt.
Conclusions:
Urban youth who have been bullied as well as those who have bullied others are at increased risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
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