The Contribution of Protective Factors to Suicidal Behavior Among Justice-Involved Black Youth: Findings from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health

Background and Purpose: In the United States, recent data shows the Black youths’ suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) are increasing. Accordingly, a Congressional Black Caucus task force called for research to identify risk and protective factors for STB among Black youth in 2019. Of note is the issue of suicide among Black youth who are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system, including youth with criminal activity histories. Despite the presence of national estimates of suicidal behavior (ideation, attempt and completion) among detained youth, it is imperative to focus on the role of STB among Black youth involved with the juvenile justice system who are community based. Specifically, it is important to understand risk and protective factors for STBs among Black youth who have been arrested due to criminal activity. This information is needed to create a contextual understanding of developmentally salient risk and protective factors for this subpopulation, which is critical to informing targeted suicide prevention strategies. Consequently, we applied an intersectional, biopsychosocial lens to investigate both individual and contextual (i.e., family, peer, or school-related) risk and protective factors for STB among justice-involved Black youth.

Method: We used a subsample of Black youth aged 12-17 who participated in the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) who noted they had been arrested and noted ever having been arrested for breaking the law (n = 301). The study variables included STB risk factors: depression severity and past year substance misuse; protective factors: youth religiosity, positive parenting, school engagement and extracurricular activities. Prior research on justice-involved Black youth suicidal behavior uncovered risk and protective factors spanning from individual (i.e., mental health diagnoses) to contextual (i.e., school-based or family-based factors). Thus, we examined individual risk factors including sex, socioeconomic status, depression and substance misuse, and individual protective factors (i.e., religiosity), family- (i.e., positive parenting), school- (i.e., school engagement), and community-levels (youth involvement in activities). We tested unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models to test salient risk and protective factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Interaction terms were added to the model to assess the extent to which protective factors would buffer the association between depression severity and STB.

Results: Various risk and protective factors across individual and contextual levels emerged for justice-involved Black youth. Among youth with histories of arrest, 18.5% endorsed suicidal ideation, 12.0% endorsed suicide plans, and 10.3% endorsed a previous suicide attempt. These rates were significantly higher than the general population of youth ages 12-17. Further, gender (female) and depression severity were risk factors for STBs, while positive parenting and religiosity were protective factors for STBs. School engagement was not associated with STBs.

Conclusion: The findings suggest suicide prevention and intervention efforts should identify developmentally salient and culturally relevant protective factors to reduce mental health burden associated with STBs and concurrent criminal activity of Black youth, especially Black girls with histories of depression.