Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
New researchAssociations Between Peer Victimization and Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempt During Adolescence: Results From a Prospective Population-Based Birth Cohort
Section snippets
Sample
The Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) is a representative cohort of 2,120 youths born in the Canadian province of Quebec in 1997 through 1998. Data were collected annually or biannually from 1998 through 2013.
In the present study, we included 1,168 participants for whom measures of peer victimization and suicidality were collected at both 13 and 15 years of age, for 55% of the original cohort. To adjust for attrition, we conducted analyses with and without inverse
Results
The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation slightly increased from 4.5% at age 13 years to 5.9% at age 15 years. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher and increased for females (5.3−8.6%) compared to males (3.7−3.0%) (Table 1). The prevalence of suicide attempt increased between 13 and 15 years for females (2.7−4.5%) and decreased for males (2.1−0.9%) (Table 1). The prevalence of peer victimization was 16.7% for females and 25.8% for males at age 13 and 17.5% for females and 17.2% for
Discussion
During adolescence, the peer group becomes increasingly important. Thus, being victimized by peers (i.e., being frequently teased/called names or excluded from social groups and activities) can represent a major source of stress, with potentially damaging consequences.37, 38 In this population-based sample, such victimization experiences were common, with 17–21% of 13- to 15-year-old adolescents reporting being often or very often victimized by their peers. Such victimized adolescents
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This study was conducted with help from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grants OGE#111395 and MOP#114984 awarded to M.B. and S.M.C. and R.E.T.) and Manulife research fund in teen depression (J.R.). The larger Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) study was also supported by funding from the Québec Government’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Family Affairs, The Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the Québec Health Research Fund (FQRS), The Québec Research Fund for Society and Culture (FQRSC), Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the St-Justine Research Centre, and the Québec Statistics Institute (ISQ) (R.E.T.). S.M.C. is a senior research fellow of the FRQS. http://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/en/ http://fondationchagnon.org/en/index.aspx http://www.frqs.gouv.qc.ca/en/ http://www.frqsc.gouv.qc.ca/fr/accueil.php http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/homeaccueileng.aspx http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca.
The authors thank David Gunnell, PhD, of the University of Bristol, for his contribution to the paper and all the participants of the QLSCD.
Disclosure: Drs. Geoffroy, Boivin, Arseneault, Turecki, Vitaro, Brendgen, Renaud, Séguin, Tremblay, and Côté report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.