Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Behavior among Bullied Sexual Minority Youth in High School: Lutterman student award lecture

Objectives. To assess the association between experiencing bullying and depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior among sexual minority youth and to determine whether grade level moderated these associations.

Methods. We examined data from the 2009 New York City (NYC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey of roughly 10,000 students from 105 public high schools. Students voluntarily completed a self-administered, anonymous, 99-item questionnaire, which included items asking them about their bullying experiences (e.g., school and cyber), depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors. The data were weighted to represent all students in grades 9-12 in NYC. Our analytic sample comprised 951 LGB students (8.9% of total respondents). We computed the prevalences of having depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts in the past 12-months. We then used multiple logistic regression to determine whether high school grade level (e.g., 9th/10th grades [underclassmen] versus 11th/12th grades [upperclassmen]) moderated the association between experiencing bullying and depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors.

Results. Experiencing school and cyber bullying were significantly associated with depressive symptoms (OR=3.69; 95% CI=1.52, 8.99), suicide ideation (OR=5.97; 95% CI=2.68, 13.28), and attempting suicide (OR=5.10; 95% CI=2.04, 12.76). High school grade level moderated the associations between experiencing bullying, depressive symptoms and attempting suicide. Among underclassmen, experiencing bullying was associated with depressive symptoms (OR=7.25; 95% CI=2.32, 22.69) and attempting suicide (OR=7.25; 95% CI=2.99, 17.56). However, these associations were not significant among upperclassmen.

Conclusions. Younger sexual minority youth are particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of bullying. More interventions reducing the impact of bullying for these individuals will be needed.