Understanding Predictors of Passive Suicidal Ideation and Self-Injury Among South Korean Adolescents

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 5. Mental Health

Abstract

Adolescent suicide is a major public health concern, with rising rates observed among youth in South Korea. This study examines social predictors of passive suicidal ideation and self-injury, which may serve as early indicators of more severe suicidal behaviors. The analysis focuses on how experiences with parents, teachers, and peers—specifically physical punishment, emotional maltreatment, and school violence—affect adolescents’ risk. Data come from the 2024 Children’s and Youth Rights Survey, a nationally representative school-based survey of 6,020 middle and high school students in grades 7 to 12 in South Korea. Measures of physical punishment, emotional maltreatment, and school violence were assessed for frequency over the past year, and three dichotomous outcome variables were created to capture passive suicidal ideation, self-injurious thoughts, and self-injurious behaviors. Logistic regression models, accounting for clustering by school and applying probability weights, controlled for sex, grade, area of residence, family structure, perceived economic status, and academic performance. Listwise deletion was used to handle a small proportion of missing data. Preliminary results indicate that emotional maltreatment by parents and school violence significantly increase the risk of all three outcomes, while physical punishment by parents is associated with self-injurious behaviors and punishment by teachers is associated with self-injurious thoughts. These findings highlight the social contexts that contribute to early suicidal risk among adolescents.

Author

• Yongmin Kim, Indiana University-Bloomington