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Prospective Relation Between Peer Victimization and Suicidal Ideation: Potential Cognitive Mediators

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Abstract

The current study combines models about the effects of peer victimization on negative self-cognitions with models about the effects of negative cognitions on suicidal ideation. In a two-wave longitudinal investigation of high schoolers (N = 192) and college students (N = 142), the study examined perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and hopelessness as mediators of the prospective relation between peer victimization and suicidal ideation. Path analyses yielded three findings: (a) peer victimization predicted perceived burdensomeness but not thwarted belongingness or hopelessness; (b) perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and hopelessness each predicted suicidal ideation; and (c) perceived burdensomeness mediated part of the relation between peer victimization and suicidal ideation. These patterns were consistent across samples and did not differ significantly by gender. Results are consistent with aspects of all three original models and provide support for a new cognitive mediation model regarding the relation of peer victimization to suicidal ideation.

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Notes

  1. We conducted all analyses with and without age as a covariate. As covarying age did not substantively affect the results, we report only the analyses without the covariate. We also conducted separate analyses for various PV subtypes. As the results were highly redundant of one another, we report only the analyses of the PV composite. Finally, we examined gender as a possible moderator in a series of multi-group path analytic models. None of the key cross-lag structural relations were significantly different for males versus females.

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Acknowledgements

David A. Cole receives support from a donation from the Patricia and Rodes Hart family.

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Correspondence to David A. Cole.

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Kathryn M. Roeder and David A. Cole declare they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Roeder, K.M., Cole, D.A. Prospective Relation Between Peer Victimization and Suicidal Ideation: Potential Cognitive Mediators. Cogn Ther Res 42, 769–781 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9939-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9939-0

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