Suicidal Risk in Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Patterns Associated with Problem-Solving and Cognitive Distortions

Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) exhibit depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation at much higher rates than the general population (Burke et al., 2022), with suicide the leading cause of mortality among YEH (Auerswald et al., 2016), likely due to a confluence of stressors (Budescu et al., 2021). To better prevent suicide, understanding factors associated with suicidal risk, such as cognitive distortions and problem-solving, has been a focus of prior research (Wilson et al., 2011). However, little is known about the relationship between these factors and suicidal risk among YEH.

Using baseline data from a study with suicidal YEH (N = 150), correlation and mediation analyses were completed to determine the associations between cognitive distortions, problem-solving, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation.

Higher cognitive distortions and poorer problem-solving were significantly associated with depressive symptomology. Additionally, negative problem orientation was a significant mediator of the pathway between cognitive distortions and depressive symptoms. However, we found no relationships among the variables to suicidal ideation. Likewise, sex-at-birth was not significant as a moderator.

Findings suggest that negative problem orientation could be an important target for preventing depressive symptoms among YEH experiencing cognitive distortions, and future research is recommended to confirm this relationship.