Poster #97 - Patterns of reporting on suicide ideation and attempt among Native American adolescents: A replication study

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Native American adolescents are more likely to think about, attempt, and die by suicide than their age mates from other ethnoracial backgrounds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020; Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2020). While theoretical frameworks have been developed to help distinguish those who think about suicide from those who act on those thoughts in an effort to improve suicide prevention (e.g., May & Klonsky, 2014), it is unknown whether these frameworks are generalizable to Native American youth. Preliminary evidence demonstrating that Native American populations may be more likely than the general population to report past suicide attempts (SA) above and beyond past suicide ideation (SI) call these theories into question (e.g., Bolton et al., 2014; LeMaster et al., 2015). Thus, understanding patterns of reporting of SI and SA are important for grounding these theories in different developmental periods. This study aimed to examine these patterns in two epidemiologically informed (nationally and state, respectively) of adolescents, comparing patterns of SI/SA reported by Native American youth to those of their peers from other ethnoracial backgrounds.

Participant data comes from multiple waves of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (N=61,136; grades 9–12) and Minnesota Student Survey (N=339,811; grades 8, 9, 11). Comparing Native American youth to peers who are Asian American, Black, Hispanic/Latinx, White, and Multiracial, we examined three suicide reporting patterns over the past 12-months: 1) prevalence of SI and SA, 2) odds of reporting SA among those who reported SI, and 3) odds of reporting SA among those who did not report SI. Each logistic regression analysis controlled for the effects of age, sex, and depressive symptoms.

Replicating past research, Native American youth were more likely to report past-year SI and SA compared to their age-mates from all other ethnoracial backgrounds in both samples (Figure 1). Consistent differences in reporting patterns emerged between Native American youth and their White peers in both samples. Native American youth were more likely than White youth to endorse a SA when endorsing SI (Figure 2a). Moreover, they were also more likely than their white peers to endorse a SA without also endorsing SI in the past year (Figure 2b). Fewer consistent differences were observed between Native American youth and peers from minoritized backgrounds in co-reports of SI/SA.

Replicating past research, these results demonstrate elevated prevalence of SI and SA among Native American youth compared to their peers from other ethnoracial backgrounds. Although the findings are cross sectional, the results call into question the generalizability of theories and risk mechanisms established among primarily White samples. In future research, acquired capability for suicide and impulsivity may be considered as two potential underlying mechanisms that may in part explain these patterns of reporting in this disproportionately-burdened group, as well as their similarly marginalized, racially-minoritized peers. Finally, these results hold important implications for suicide risk monitoring in clinical settings, given the emphasis on suicidal behaviors, potentially without preceding SI.

Authors

• Andrea Wiglesworth, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Mitchell J Prinstein, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill