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The Role of Body Image and Disordered Eating as Risk Factors for Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents
Author(s) -
Brausch Amy M.,
Gutierrez Peter M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1521/suli.2009.39.1.58
Subject(s) - disordered eating , suicidal ideation , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , psychology , poison control , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , injury prevention , eating disorders , ideation , structural equation modeling , risk factor , human factors and ergonomics , psychiatry , medicine , anxiety , environmental health , cognitive science , statistics , mathematics , economics , macroeconomics
There is much empirical literature on factors for adolescent suicide risk, but body image and disordered eating are rarely included in these models. In the current study, disordered eating and body image were examined as risk factors for suicide ideation since these factors are prevalent in adolescence, particularly for females. It was hypothesized that disordered eating and body image, in addition to depressive symptoms, would contribute to suicide ideation. It was also hypothesized that these relationships would be stronger for females than for males. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of risk for suicide ideation incorporating the above factors in a sample of 392 high school students. Results indicated that disordered eating contributed to both suicide ideation and depressive symptoms, while body image only contributed to depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms contributed to suicide ideation. The model was found to be cross‐validated with males and females, and no gender differences emerged. Implications of these findings and their importance in constructing future models of adolescent suicide risk are discussed.