Examining the Effect of Teen Dating Violence on Suicidal Behaviors Among Adolescents: Findings from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Background and Purpose: Teen Dating violence (TDV) has been identified as a major public health concern. A recent study by Kann et al. (2016) found that about one in ten adolescent students who dated or went out with someone had been physically hurt on purpose. Teenagers who experience TDV are vulnerable to numerous risk behaviors such as eating disorders, poor academic performance, drug abuse, and poor psychosocial functioning (Vagi et al., 2015). The extant literature has also shown that suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the US and especially prevalent among LGBTQ adolescents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Although studies have investigated and found strong association between child abuse subtypes effects and suicidal behaviors, little is known about the impact of TDV on different suicidal behaviors. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of TDV, suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt among adolescents aged 14–18 years; and the association between TDV and these suicidal behaviors.

Methods: Data for this study were obtained from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. A sample of 9,693 adolescents aged 14-18 years (50.4% males) were analyzed. The outcome variables investigated were past year suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt. The main explanatory variable investigated was experience of TDV. Using binary logistic regression, we regressed suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt on TDV after controlling for demographic factors, bullying, and mental health factors.

Results: Of the 9,693 adolescents examined, about one in six (16.6%) experienced suicidal ideation, 13.7% made a suicide plan, and 7.6% attempted suicide during the past 12 months. About 6.3% of the adolescents experienced TDV, 61.1% were dating but experienced no TDV, and 32.6% were not dating. In the multivariate logistic regression models, TDV was significantly associated with all three suicidal behaviors. Compared to adolescents who were dating but experienced no TDV, those who experienced TDV were 1.92 times more likely to have experienced suicidal ideation (AOR=1.92, 95% CI=1.53-2.41), 1.67 times more likely to have made a suicide plan (AOR=1.67, 95% CI=1.33-2.09), and 2.42 times more likely to have attempted suicide (AOR=2.42, 95% CI=1.90-3.08). Adolescents who self-identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual had higher odds of experiencing all three suicidal behaviors when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Ever experiencing forced sex, feeling sad/hopeless, being bullied, being cyberbullied, binge drinking, and being overweight all significantly increased the odds of all three suicidal behaviors.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings from this study revealed that adolescents who experienced TDV were at increased risk for suicidal behaviors. The study also found that students who self-identified as sexual minorities were likely to experience all three suicidal behaviors. Future research should take into consideration prevention and intervention strategies that particularly target adolescents experiencing TDV and those with different sexual orientation when addressing suicide prevention. Social work practitioners should pay attention to adolescents with a history of trauma and help them develop stress management skills in order to reduce the risk for these suicidal behaviors.