Social stress and suicide risk in adolescents

2023-05-26 01:26:06

teenage girls who have more difficulty solving interpersonal problems effectively when experiencing social stress, and who experience more interpersonal stress in their lives, are at greater risk of suicidal behavior, suggests research published by the American Psychological Association in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science ⁽¹⁾.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents, and rates of suicidal behavior are particularly high among girls. Previous research has found that interpersonal stressors, such as conflicts with peers, friends, and family, are linked to suicidal behavior.

Poor ability to solve social problems

Some theories of suicidal behavior suggest that poor social problem-solving ability may contribute to this relationship, possibly because adolescents with lower social problem-solving ability are more likely to see suicide as a viable solution to their distress when they feel They have exhausted other options.

The new study aimed to test these associations by taking into account both measures of social stress experimentally simulated as real world measurements.

185 girls between 12 and 17 years old

“The findings provide empirical support for the cognitive and behavioral theories of suicide suggesting that deficits in the ability to effectively manage and resolve interpersonal problems may be related to suicidal behavior –stresses the study’s lead author Olivia Pollack, from the University of North Carolina (United States)–. Clinically, this is remarkable, as problem solving figures prominently in various treatments for suicidal or self-injurious behavior.”

Participants completed a task that assessed your social problem solving skillswhich involved responding to scenarios involving interpersonal conflict or challenges with other people, such as peers, friends, family members, and romantic partners

The participants were 185 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who had experienced a mental health problem in the last two years. At the beginning of the study, the participants completed surveys or interviews about their mental health symptoms and suicidal behaviors.

Participants also completed a task that assessed your social problem solving skillswhich involved responding to scenarios involving interpersonal conflict or challenges with other people, such as peers, friends, family members, and romantic partners.

They were then asked to perform a task that has been shown in previous studies to induce social stress: they had to prepare and deliver a three-minute speech to what they thought was an audience of peers watching them through a video connection.

Immediately after the stressful taskre-performed the social problem solving task to see if social stress caused a decrease in their ability to solve problems.

Follow-up of the girls for nine months

The researchers also made a follow-up of the girls for nine monthswith check-ups every three months, to ask them about the stressors they experienced in interpersonal settings, such as with colleagues, friends, and family, as well as about suicidal behaviors.

In general, they found that the girls who showed a greater decline in the effectiveness of problem solving in the laboratory, and who also experienced higher levels of interpersonal stress during the nine-month follow-up period, were more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior during the nine-month follow-up period.

“Importantly, problem-solving deficits in situations of suicidal distress only in combination with greater real-life cumulative interpersonal stress,” Pollak said. of efficacy and experienced high levels of interpersonal stress during the nine-month follow-up, consistent with robust evidence from the links between interpersonal life stress and suicidal behavior“, he concludes.

References

• ⁽¹⁾ Social stress and problem-solving deficits contribute to adolescent suicide risk. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.