Effects of Self-Esteem on the Association between Negative Life Events and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents

Yuhui Wan, Ruoling Chen, Shanshan Wang, Sophie Orton, Danni Wang, Shichen Zhang, Ying Sun and Fangbiao Tao
Additional contact information
Yuhui Wan: Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Ruoling Chen: Centre for Health and Social Care Improvement (CHSCI), Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, UK
Shanshan Wang: Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Sophie Orton: Division of Primary Care, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK
Danni Wang: Teaching Centre of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Shichen Zhang: Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Ying Sun: Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
Fangbiao Tao: Department of Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-10

Abstract: Negative life events (NLEs) increase the risk of suicidal ideation (SI) in adolescents. However, it is not known whether the association between NLEs and SI can be moderated by self-esteem and varies with gender. The aim of the current paper was to examine gender differences in the association of SI with NLEs in adolescents, and assess the effects of self-esteem on the association and their gender variations. We conducted a school-based health survey in 15 schools in China between November 2013 and January 2014. A total of 9704 participants aged 11–19 years had sociodemographic data reported and self-esteem (Rosenberg self-esteem scale), NLEs, and SI measured. Multivariate-adjusted logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) of having SI in relation to NLEs. Increased risk of SI was significantly associated with NLEs (adjusted OR 2.19, 95%CI 1.94–2.47), showing no gender differences (in females 2.38, 2.02–2.80, in males 1.96, 1.64–2.36, respectively). The association was stronger in adolescents with high esteem (2.93, 2.34–3.68) than those with low esteem (2.00, 1.65–2.42) (ORs ratio 1.47, p = 0.012). The matched figures in females were 3.66 (2.69–4.99) and 2.08 (1.61–2.70) (1.76, p = 0.006), while in males these figures were 2.27(1.62–3.19) and 1.89 (1.41–2.53) (1.20, p = 0.422), respectively. Self-esteem had moderate effects on the association between NLEs and SI in adolescents, mainly in females. NLEs, self-esteem, and gender need to be incorporated into future intervention programs to prevent SI in adolescents.

Keywords: negative life events; suicidal ideation; self-esteem; adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/16/2846/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/16/2846/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:16:p:2846-:d:256105

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().