Intimate Partner Violence and Suicide Attempts Among Urban Adolescent Females

Background

Adolescent suicide and intimate partner violence are major public health problems. However, few studies have investigated whether experiencing intimate partner violence affects risk for suicide attempts among ethnically diverse adolescents. This study evaluated the relationship between intimate partner violence and suicide attempts in an ethnically diverse sample of high school students.

Methodology

Participants include 2450 public high school adolescents (56.1% female) that completed the 2007 Philadelphia Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Research questions examined past history (last 12 months) of intimate partner violence and suicide attempts (last 12 months). Analyses included chi-square tests and odds ratio calculations.

Results

Overall, 12.5% of adolescents attempted suicide, and 16.5% reported intimate partner violence during the past year. Youth who experienced intimate partner violence are 1.852 times (95% CI: 1.713, 2.002) more likely to attempt suicide. Females who experienced intimate partner violence are 1.656 times (95% CI: 1.495, 1.835) more likely to have attempted suicide at least one time in the last year.

Asian American, African American, and Hispanic adolescents who experience recent intimate partner violence are 1.477 (95% CI: 1.090, 2.002), 2.530 (95% CI: 2.275, 2.814), and 3.287 (95% CI: 2.537, 4.259) times more likely, respectively, to have attempted suicide at least one time in the last year.

Conclusions

Among these ethnically diverse urban high school students, recent dating violence was significantly related to, and increased the risk of, suicide attempts. Routine screening of adolescent partner violence should be completed, and mental health referrals should be made for these at-risk teens.