School Involvement as a Protective Factor against Suicide in Youth and the Moderating Role of Discrimination

College of Letters & Science, Kuhlmann, Elizabeth, Larson, Christine, Mentor, Poster Presentation, Psychology, School and College, Student

Elizabeth Kuhlmann, “School Involvement as a Protective Factor against Suicide in Youth and the Moderating Role of Discrimination”
Mentor: Christine Larson, Psychology
Poster #113

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in adolescents. Social support has been shown to reduce risk for suicidal ideation (SI), suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Therefore, understanding a child’s peer relationships and school life can give us more insight into their mental wellbeing. Recently, racial disparities have emerged in suicide attempts, where attempts increased for Black and Hispanic youth and decreased for White youth. The present study examined how a child’s positive school experience impacts suicidality and the moderation effects of racial and ethnic discrimination. A sample of youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study was divided into White participants (n=5368) and non-White participants (Black and Hispanic; n=3330). All models accounted for missingness by omission. We used linear regression analyses to look at the effects of sex, age, income, and school involvement in the White youth and sex, age, income, school involvement, and racial and ethnic discrimination in the non-White youth. Moderation analyses were used with the non-White youth to look at the moderating impact of discrimination on school involvement and suicidal behavior. School involvement was a significant predictor of decreased SI and NSSI in White youth (t=-8.78, p<.001; t=-3.60, p<.001) and in non-White youth (t=-5.64, p<.001; t=-4.28, p<.001). Discrimination was not a predictor of suicidal behavior in any of the linear models, nor was it a significant moderator between school involvement on SI, attempts, or NSSI. This shows that discrimination does not impact the positive effect of school involvement, despite its inherent negative effects. This could also suggest increased school involvement has health promotion influence on youth. When students are more involved in school life, they have a greater chance of making more friendships, and thus increasing social support, whereas those who are not as involved, may lack social connections.