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Association of Being Bullied in School With Suicide Ideation and Planning Among Rural Middle School Adolescents
Author(s) -
Bhatta Madhav P.,
Shakya Sunita,
Jefferis Eric
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12205
Subject(s) - suicidal ideation , suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , odds ratio , psychology , human factors and ergonomics , youth risk behavior survey , occupational safety and health , logistic regression , medicine , clinical psychology , demography , psychiatry , environmental health , sociology , pathology
BACKGROUND This study examined the association of ever being bullied in school with suicide ideation (ever thinking about killing oneself) and ever seriously making a plan to kill oneself (suicide planning) among rural middle school adolescents. METHODS Using the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey instrument, 2 cross‐sectional surveys were conducted among middle school adolescents (N = 1082) in a rural Appalachian county in Ohio in 2009 and 2012. Multivariable logistic regression models assessed the relationship of ever being bullied in school with suicide ideation and planning. RESULTS Overall, a total of 468 participants (43.1%) reported ever being bullied in school, and 22.3% and 13.2% of the adolescents surveyed reported suicide ideation and planning, respectively. In the multivariable analyses, ever being bullied in school was significantly associated with both suicide ideation (odds ratio [OR] = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.7‐3.5) and planning (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.6‐3.8). CONCLUSIONS The results show a strong association between being bullied in school and suicide ideation and planning among rural middle school adolescents. Prevention of bullying in school as early as in middle school should be a strategy for reducing suicide ideation and planning among adolescents.