Abstract
Background
Previous studies have increasingly shown the adverse effects of being bullied on suicidal
behavior among young people, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain
unclear. We examined the association between bullying and suicidal behavior among
in-school adolescents. We further tested whether loneliness mediated the link between
bullying and suicidal behavior and explored the moderated role of parental involvement
in this association.
Methods
We used cross-sectional school-based data from the Global School-based Student Health
Survey among 28 countries and territories. Adjusted, modified Poisson regressions
with robust variance relative risks and moderation analyses were used to examine associations
among bullying, suicidal behavior, and parental involvement. The mediating effect
of loneliness on the bullying-suicidal behavior link was assessed using the generalized
decomposition method.
Results
A total of 78,558 school-going adolescents participated in this study. Bullying was
associated with a 44% increased risk of suicidal behavior after adjusting for potential
confounders (relative risk = 1.44; 95% confidence interval = 1.39–1.48). Loneliness
partially mediated the association between bullying and suicidal behavior, and parental
involvement moderated the association.
Conclusions
The findings suggest the need to recognize the dual burden of bullying and loneliness
when addressing suicidal behavior and the importance of parental support in adolescents'
mental health and well-being.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 14, 2023
Accepted:
January 26,
2023
Received:
March 22,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.