Co-occurring passive and active suicidal ideations as a risk factor for suicidal behavior during adolescence

This study examines how patterns of suicidal ideations (SIs) are associated with adolescent suicidal behavior.

540 adolescents (M age = 15.8; 37.8 % cis-gender female) from 13 California high schools completed self-report measures assessing sociodemographic characteristics, suicidal behavior, and five dimensions of past month SI: active SI, passive SI, SI frequency, SI duration, SI intent in the beginning of the fall/winter and 3-months later (spring). We utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to identify latent groups of adolescents by SI dimension at baseline and assessed the association between class membership in the fall and suicidal behavior in the spring. We also examined associations between sociodemographic variables and class membership at baseline.

The LCA indicated that a three-class model fit best. The Passive SI class (10 % of the sample) was characterized by high probabilities of passive SI; and low-moderate probabilities of active SI, frequency, duration, and intent (0.02-0.37); the Co-Occurring Suicidal Ideations class (6 %) had high probabilities of passive and active SIs, frequency, duration, and intent (0.59-1.00); and the No SI class (84 %) had low probabilities across characteristics of SI (<0.01). When controlling for covariates and suicidal behavior at baseline, the Co-Occurring SIs class had significantly higher risk of suicidal behavior in the spring as compared to the No SI class (RR = 3.13, p < .05). LGBTQ+ adolescents had greater odds of membership in the No SI class than in the other classes.

This study provides preliminary evidence of co-occurring SIs conferring risk for suicidal behavior during adolescence.