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Suicidality in 12-Year-Olds: The Interaction Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health

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Abstract

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) are a leading cause of death in adolescence. To date, most research with youth has focused on risk factors for suicide; and less attention has been paid to resilience factors. This study examined whether positive beliefs and social connectedness moderate associations between mental health symptoms and STB. A community sample of 12-year-olds (N = 60) completed self-report questionnaires on their STB, mental health symptoms, positive beliefs and social connectedness. Nearly 20% of the adolescents reported STB. STB was associated with increased mental health symptoms and lower scores on the resilience measures. A significant moderating effect of social connectedness showed that youth with a combination of poor mental health and high levels of social support exhibited lower levels of STB. There was no significant moderating effect of positive beliefs. These results indicate that social support should be screened for in primary care and incorporated into youth suicide prevention programs.

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Notes

  1. At the time this paper was written there was insufficient data from subsequent assessments to run longitudinal analyses: T1 (n = 60), T2 (n = 39), T3 (n = 31) and T4 (n = 5).

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the young people who generously participated in this research and to the LABS research assistants: Amanda Boyes and Genevieve Roberts. Thank you also to Dr Paul Schwen for preparing the dataset.

Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the Australian Commonwealth Government’s ‘Prioritizing Mental Health Initiative’ (2018–2019) 4-7R154BP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, 12 Innovation Parkway, Birtinya, QLD, 4575, Australia

    Gabrielle Simcock, Thu Andersen, Larisa T. McLoughlin, Denise Beaudequin, Marcella Parker, Amanda Clacy, Jim Lagopoulos & Daniel F. Hermens

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  1. Gabrielle Simcock
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  2. Thu Andersen
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  3. Larisa T. McLoughlin
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  4. Denise Beaudequin
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Correspondence to Gabrielle Simcock.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional ethics committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Research Involving Human Rights

The study protocol was approved by the University of the Sunshine Coast Human Research Ethics Board (# A181064) and was conducted ethically in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent

Both the young people participating in this study and their parent or guardian provided written informed consent to participate.

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Simcock, G., Andersen, T., McLoughlin, L.T. et al. Suicidality in 12-Year-Olds: The Interaction Between Social Connectedness and Mental Health. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 52, 619–627 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01048-8

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