Suicidal ideation and substance use among adolescents and young adults: A bidirectional relation?

Abstract

Objective To examine reciprocal associations between substance use (cigarette smoking, use of alcohol, marijuana, and other illegal drugs) and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults (aged 11–21 at wave 1; aged 24–32 at wave 4). Methods Four waves public-use Add Health data were used in the analysis (N= 3,342). Respondents were surveyed in 1995, 1996, 2001–2002, and 2008–2009. Current regular smoking, past-year alcohol use, past-year marijuana use, and ever use of other illegal drugs as well as past-year suicidal ideation were measured at the four waves (1995, 1996, 2001–2002, and 2008–2009). Fixed effects models with lagged dependent variables were modeled to test unidirectional associations between substance use and suicidal ideation, and nonrecursive models with feedback loops combining correlated fixed factors were conducted to examine reciprocal relations between each substance use and suicidal ideation, respectively. Results After adjusting for the latent time-invariant effects and lagged effects of dependent variables, the unidirectional associations from substance use to suicidal ideation were consistently significant, and vice versa. Nonrecursive model results showed that use of cigarette or alcohol increased risk of suicidal ideation, while suicidal ideation was not associated with cigarette or alcohol use. Reversely, drug use (marijuana and other drugs) did not increase risk of suicidal ideation, but suicidal ideation increased risk of illicit drug use. Conclusion The results suggest that relations between substance use and suicidal ideation are unidirectional, with cigarette or alcohol use increasing risk of suicidal ideation and suicidal ideation increasing risk of illicit drug use.

Shame and Suicidal Ideation among Undergraduates in China: The Mediating Effect of Thwarted Belongingness and Perceived Burdensomeness

“…Suicidal ideation among undergraduates is associated with various factors. Among the demographic factors, our findings are consistent with previous studies where females were more prone to suicidal ideation [61][62][63][64][65]. However, undergraduates who major in the liberal arts are more likely to experience suicidal ideation than those in medicine.…”

Acute Trauma Factor Associations With Suicidality Across the First 5 Years After Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Interestingly, some studies examining the relation between substance use and SI or SA in the non-TBI literature suggest that these relations are bidirectional and that suicidality may either precede or follow the onset of substance use. 42,43 If drug use at injury in our sample is reflective of premorbid patterns of use, this behavior could be associated with underlying SI prior to the injury, which then persisted through the follow-up period. This idea is consistent with our finding that preinjury SAs are also associated with long-term SI.…”

How are depression and suicidal ideation associated with multiple health risk behaviours among adolescents? A secondary data analysis using the 2016 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web‐based Survey

“…This study found that Korean adolescents with suicidal ideation were more likely to engage in multiple HRBs than were those without suicidal ideation. Some studies identified associations between suicidal ideation and single HRBs (Wong, Zhou, Goebert, & Hishinuma, 2013;Zhang & Wu, 2014). Adolescents at risk of suicide tend to experience diverse problems including psychological distress, family dysfunction and impaired peer relationships, which may facilitate adolescent negative coping (Evans, Hawton, & Rodham, 2004).…”