Adolescent Suicide Ideation, Depression and Self-Esteem: Relationships to a New Measure of Gender Role Conflict

Abstract

Among 15-24 year olds in Ireland, completed suicide was responsible for 4.1 times more male deaths than female deaths in 2014 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017). Few international research studies have investigated the relationship between masculinity [as assessed by a measure of gender role conflict (GRC)] and suicide ideation, and none have done so with Irish adolescents. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between a new measure of GRC developed specifically for use with Irish adolescents (I-GRCS-A; O'Beaglaoich et al., 2016), and depression, self-esteem, and negative/protective suicide ideation. A sample of 176 adolescent boys (M = 16.9, SD = 0.94) from a nonclinical population participated in the study. Regression analyses and tests of mediation revealed that depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and negative suicide ideation, whilst self-esteem and depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and positive suicide ideation. Implications and limitations of the current study are outlined and directions for future research are discussed.

Trend analyses suggest gender-focused, peer-aware, and parent-targeted interventions could reduce teenage e-cigarette use

“…This is in line with many other studies (1,24). Various theories have been offered to explain gender and substance use including tobacco and e-cigarettes, such as Connell's (2005) in uential construct of hegemonic masculinity and how it puts men at risk of harmful health behaviours and consequences that can be destructive for them (26), including for teenage boys (27), and Butler's (28) consequential theory of gender performativity -that gender is not an essential, biologically determined quality or an inherent identity, but is repeatedly performed, based on, and reinforced by, societal norms, this repeated performance of gender being also performative -applied to smoking by women in Australia by Gilbert (29). They argued that smoking is "a gender act that can be internalised and which, when repeatedly performed by women in gender-appropriate ways, constructs a 'feminine' gender identity" (28,29).…”

Gender Self-Confidence as a Protective Factor for Suicide Risk: Analysis of the Sample of Lithuanian Men

“…Although some aspects of masculinity increase suicide risk (Houle et al, 2008 ; Galligan et al, 2010 ; Easton et al, 2013 ; Coleman, 2015 ; Pirkis et al, 2017 ; Genuchi, 2019 ; King et al, 2020 ; O'Beaglaoich et al, 2020 ) and male suicide prevention or therapeutic strategies targeted at these aspects are important, however, it is worth mentioning that another important factor for men is sustainability and support for gender self-definition, that is to say, masculinity in one's identity. Therefore, the task is not only to soften self-reliance (Pirkis et al, 2017 ) or restricted emotionality (Galligan et al, 2010 ) in men, but at the same time to acknowledge the need for masculine identity.…”

“…Studies find that men are at a higher risk for suicidal behavior if they conform to masculinity norms of self-reliance (Coleman, 2015 ; Pirkis et al, 2017 ; Genuchi, 2019 ; King et al, 2020 ), restricted emotionality (Galligan et al, 2010 ), and violence (King et al, 2020 ). Some studies (Houle et al, 2008 ; Easton et al, 2013 ; O'Beaglaoich et al, 2020 ) examine masculinity norms as a general construct instead of specific dimensions or patterns; therefore, in those cases, it is difficult to understand what specific aspects of masculinity are linked to suicide behavior, given that not all masculinity norms are associated with mental health issues (Wong et al, 2017 ).…”

Friends and family matter Most: a trend analysis of increasing e-cigarette use among Irish teenagers and socio-demographic, personal, peer and familial associations

“…This is in line with many other studies [ 1 , 20 ]. Various theories have been offered to explain gender and substance use including tobacco and e-cigarettes, such as Connell’s (2005) influential construct of hegemonic masculinity and how it puts men at risk of harmful health behaviours and consequences that can be destructive for them [ 29 ], including for teenage boys [ 30 , 31 ], and Butler’s [ 32 ] consequential theory of gender performativity - that gender is not an essential, biologically determined quality or an inherent identity, but is repeatedly performed, based on, and reinforced by, societal norms, this repeated performance of gender being also performative - applied to smoking by women in Australia by Gilbert and colleagues [ 33 ]. They argued that smoking is “a gender act that can be internalised and which, when repeatedly performed by women in gender-appropriate ways, constructs a ‘feminine’ gender identity” [ 32 , 33 ].…”