3-087 - Developmental Perspectives on Adolescent Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs), including suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and non-suicidal self-injury, rise in early adolescence reaching the highest prevalence in mid/late adolescence. Differences by gender also emerge around this time, with girls showing higher prevalence of SITBs than do boys. Recent national data suggest that hospitalizations for adolescent suicide attempts almost doubled between 2008 and 2015, and adolescent suicide deaths have increased over the past two decades, with rates tripling among early adolescent girls. However, studies on SITBI risk factors specific to the transition from early- to mid-adolescence are surprisingly scarce. Furthermore, there are no known efficacious treatments for adolescent SITBIs.

The present symposium seeks to fill this knowledge gap by addressing suicide risk in the transition from early- to mid-adolescence. Our first presentation (Ortin) examines the role of pubertal timing in conferring risk for future suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among early adolescent girls and boys. Our second presentation (Glenn) uses multilevel modeling to examine individual- and school-level predictors of the transition from suicidal ideation to suicide attempts during a school year, capturing the highest-risk period for this transition, among students from 40 high schools. Finally, our third presentation (Kaufman) addresses the role of the parent-child relationship in behavioral and biological indices of risk for self-injury during treatment. Most contemporary theories of suicide that guide research are adult-focused and neglect the transition from early- to mid-adolescence. Discussion of these findings (Crowell) will address implications for constructing developmental models of suicide specific to this high-risk period.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Regina Miranda, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Discussant

• Sheila Crowell, University of Utah

Individual Presentations

• Pubertal Timing and Suicidal Behavior in Early Adolescence - Presenting Author: Ana Ortin, Hunter College; Non-Presenting Author: Regina Miranda, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York

• Ecological momentary assessment of suicide risk among adolescents during a high-risk post-hospitalization period - Presenting Author: Catherine R. Glenn, University of Rochester; Non-Presenting Author: Evan M. Kleiman, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Linda J. Alpert-Gillis, University of Rochester Medical Center

• Parent-Child Conflict, Validation, and Biosocial Mechanisms of Risk for Adolescent Self-Inflicted Injury - Presenting Author: Erin Kaufman, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Non-Presenting Author: Sheila Crowell, University of Utah