Social stress makes teen girls more likely to engage in suicidal behavior: study

According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, adolescent girls who have more difficulty resolving interpersonal difficulties efficiently when under social stress, as well as those who have more interpersonal stress in their lives, are more likely to engage in suicidal behavior. There is more. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents, and rates of suicidal behavior are especially high among girls. Previous research has found that interpersonal stressors — such as conflicts with peers, friends and family — are related to suicidal behavior.

Some theories of suicidal behavior suggest that poor social problem-solving skills may contribute to the link, possibly because teens with poor social problem-solving skills are more likely to view suicide as a viable solution to their distress. , When they feel they have exhausted others options.

The present study aimed to test these associations by considering experimentally simulated and real-world measures of social stress. The research was published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.

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“The findings provide empirical support for cognitive and behavioral theories of suicide that suggest deficits in the abilities to effectively manage and resolve interpersonal problems may be related to suicidal behavior,” said Olivia Pollack, lead author of the study. , MA, said the University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill. “Therapeutically, this is noteworthy, as problem-solving features prominently in many treatments for suicidal or self-harming behaviors.”

The participants were 185 girls aged 12 to 17 who had experienced some mental health concerns in the past two years. At the start of the study, participants completed surveys or interviews about their mental health symptoms and suicidal behaviors. Participants also completed a task assessing their social problem-solving skills, which involved responding to scenarios involving interpersonal conflict or challenges with other people, such as peers, friends, family members, and romantic partners.

The adolescents were then asked to perform a task that has been shown in previous studies to induce social tension – preparing a three-minute speech before thinking about an audience of peers watching them via video link and Had to give Immediately after the stressful task, they completed the social problem-solving task again to see whether experiencing social stress caused a decline in their problem-solving ability.

The researchers followed the girls for nine months, checking in every three months, to ask them about the stressors they were experiencing in the interpersonal domain, such as with peers, friends and family members, as well as suicidal ideation. about behavior.

Overall, the researchers found that girls who showed a greater decline in problem-solving effectiveness in the lab, and who experienced higher levels of interpersonal stress during the nine-month follow-up period, were more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior during the nine months. Thi- month follow-up period. “Importantly, a lack of problem solving under distress may increase the risk for future suicidal behavior in combination with greater cumulative interpersonal stress in real life,” said Pollack.

“The risk for suicidal behavior was greater among adolescents who showed a greater decline in effectiveness and who experienced higher levels of interpersonal stress at the nine-month follow-up, consistent with strong evidence of a relationship between interpersonal life stress and suicidal behavior.” conforms.”