Suicidal ideation in a community-based sample of elementary school children: A multilevel and spatial analysis

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether bullying victimization, psychological status, parental and peer relationships and other risk factors are associated with suicidal ideation and to identify high-risk neighbourhoods for suicidal ideation among the elementary school children in Saskatoon Health Region. METHODS:A sample of school students (n = 5340, grades 5-8; ages 9-14 years) from 109 elementary schools in Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatchewan completed the Student Health Survey in 2010-2011. A multilevel logistic regression model was used to investigate the hierarchical data structure at student, grade and school levels. Bayesian spatial analysis was conducted to examine the spatial disparity in the risk of suicidal ideation among residential neighbourhoods.RESULTS: Of 5,340 children, 340 (6.4%) indicated they had considered suicide at least once in the previous 12 months. Our findings indicated that school children who were frequently verbally or electronically bullied were more likely to report suicidal thoughts than those who were not bullied. Students who were more depressed or anxious, and those with lower self-esteem and poorer relationships with their parents were also more likely to report suicidal ideation. The Aboriginal elementary school students and those from the west side of the city were at a higher risk of having suicidal ideation.CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest the need for targeted intervention strategies on suicidal ideation among the elementary school children in Saskatoon Health Region, before they reach high school.KEY WORDS: Suicidal ideation; bullying; psychological factors; Aboriginals; multilevel analysis; Bayesian spatial models La traduction du résumé se trouve à la fin de l'article.

Correlates of Perceptions of Bullying at School among First Nations Youth Living Off Reserve

“…Moreover, our results extend previous research findings indicating that 17% and 7% of First Nations adults aged 18-25 years living off reserve reported lifetime and past-year suicidal ideation, respectively (Kumar and Nahwegahbow 2016). Our study showed that these figures were 14% and 7% for First Nations youth aged 15 to 18 years living off reserve, which suggests that the risk for lifetime and past-year suicidal ideation is also present in the high school years at a similar rate as for young adults and also similar in the elementary school years (6% past-year suicidal ideation; see Feng et al 2016). School climate might be particularly important for Indigenous youth's mental health characteristics in light of the legacy of the residential school system in Canada (see Aboriginal Healing Foundation 2002;Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015).…”

Depression among Black Youth; Interaction of Class and Place

“…In a recent study, Black youth who lived in predominantly White areas reported more PRD than those who lived in predominantly Black areas [ 48 ]. Place is shown to be linked to PRD [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 ], sleep [ 53 ], distress [ 54 , 55 ], stress [ 56 ], suicide [ 57 ], and depression [ 58 ]. SES aspects of the neighborhood, racial composition, physical and social environment, and segregation are all neighborhood and contextual factors that have mental health implications [ 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ].…”

A Simple Monte Carlo Framework to Assess Suicide Risk in Adolescents: A Study at a High School in Colombia

“…Most of the studies that have been performed in this area rely on a frequentist analysis: they rely on the information brought by samples such as ANCOVA [21][22][23]. Moreover, there are studies that use a Bayesian framework on the estimation of spatial disparity in the risk of suicidal ideation [24] or by employing Gibbs sampling [25]. However, Gibbs sampling relies on probability distributions for which we know how to sample.…”