Suicidal ideations and attempts among adolescents subjected to childhood sexual abuse and family conflict/violence: The mediating role of anger and depressed mood

Abstract Based on a sample of 9085 16- to 19-year-old students attending all high schools in Iceland in 2004, the current study examines depressed mood and anger as potential mediators between family conflict/violence and sexual abuse, on the one hand, and suicidal ideations and suicide attempts on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescence (London, England.) England.), 2013-12, Vol.36 (6), p.1227-1236
Main Authors: Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora, Asgeirsdottir, Bryndis Bjork, Gudjonsson, Gisli H, Sigurdsson, Jon Fridrik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anger
Biological and medical sciences
Child Abuse, Sexual - psychology
Child development
Child Sexual Abuse
Childhood
Conflict
Depressed mood
Depression - psychology
Domestic Violence
Emotional disorders
Emotions
Family Conflict
Family environment. Family history
Family Relations
Female
High School Students
Hospitals, Psychiatric
Humans
Iceland
Intergenerational relationships
Intervention
Male
Medical sciences
Moods
Pediatrics
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sex crimes
Sexual Abuse
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Suicidal behaviour
Suicidal Ideation
Suicidal ideations
Suicide
Suicide attempts
Suicide, Attempted - psychology
Suicides & suicide attempts
Teenagers
Violence
Young Adult
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Summary:Abstract Based on a sample of 9085 16- to 19-year-old students attending all high schools in Iceland in 2004, the current study examines depressed mood and anger as potential mediators between family conflict/violence and sexual abuse, on the one hand, and suicidal ideations and suicide attempts on the other. Agnew's general strain theory provides the theoretical framework for the study. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted allowing explicit modelling of both direct and mediating effects using observed and latent variables. The findings showed that both depressed mood and anger mediated the relationship between family conflict/violence and sexual abuse and suicidal attempts. However, when testing the mediating pathways between sexual abuse and family conflict/violence and suicidal ideations, only depressed mood but not anger turned out to be a significant mediator. The authors discuss how these finding may inform and facilitate the design and development of interventions to reduce the likelihood of suicide attempts among young people.
ISSN:0140-1971
1095-9254
DOI:10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.10.001