Self-Esteem Deficits and Suicidal Tendencies among Adolescents

doi:10.1097/00004583-199507000-00016

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume 34, Issue 7, July 1995, Pages 919-928

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199507000-00016 Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

Self-esteem can play an important role in suicidal tendencies among adolescents. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between self-esteem deficits and suicidal tendencies in 254 adolescent psychiatric inpatients and 288 high school students.

Method

The direct relationship between self-esteem and suicidal tendencies was examined by assessing suicidal ideation and history of suicide attempts. An indirect relationship between selfesteem and suicidality was examined by assessing depression and hopelessness.

Results

Differences were found across gender and hospitalization status, with males reporting higher self-esteem than females and high school students scoring higher in self-esteem than psychiatric inpatients. However, correlations among variables remained similar across gender and hospitalization status. Thus, low self-esteem was related to higher levels of depression, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, and an increased likelihood of having previously attempted suicide. Furthermore, self-esteem added to the understanding of suicidal ideation beyond what could be explained by depression and hopelessness.

Conclusions

Low self-esteem was closely related to feelings of depression, hopelessness, and suicidal tendencies. Assessment of adolescents should include an evaluation of self-esteem, and therapy should attempt to address any self-esteem deficits. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1995, 34, 7:919–928.

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According to the “differential vulnerability hypothesis,” individuals in adverse socioeconomic circumstances as less mentally resilient to stressful events. However, several recent papers radically challenged this hypothesis based on the accumulated literature on stress inoculation and presented cases in which lower-SES adolescents appear to be less vulnerable to suicidal ideation in the face of interpersonal aggression.
We re-examine the link between psychological vulnerability to acute stressors and SES using yearly longitudinal public survey data from South Korea.
This is a secondary data analysis of a multi-year public health panel dataset on South Korean adolescents.
Logistic regression is used to examine the association between suicidal ideation and a range of predictor variables, with a particular focus on the interaction between bullying victimhood and log family income. These variables and the sample were chosen for consistency with recent revisionist research.
We reaffirm the well-established finding that bullying victimhood strongly and consistently increases the odds of suicidal ideation (OR = 1.859, p < 0.01). However, we find no evidence in favor of the traditional “differential vulnerability hypothesis” or the recently proposed counterhypothesis. A subsample analysis from the latest wave (W4–W5) did produce results that are consistent with recent revisionist findings, but we suggest this is likely a false positive.
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Do connectedness and self-esteem play a role in the transition to future suicide attempts among Latina and Latino youth with suicide ideation?
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The impact of social connectedness and self-esteem on suicide behaviors among Latina/o youth with suicide ideation were examined. Method: Data were employed from Add Health Waves 1 and 2. The analysis for this study focused on 210 Latino/a youth who reported suicide ideation, but no suicide attempts at Wave 1. A multinomial variable (no suicide ideation, persistent suicide ideation, and transition to attempts) was created to examine suicide behaviors a year later in Wave 2. Multinomial logistic regression models were used. Results: Family connectedness reduced the odds of transitioning from ideation to suicide attempts relative to no ideation, adjusting for demographic and psychological covariates. In addition, school connectedness reduced the odds of persistent ideation relative to no ideation. Cuban-descent adolescents compared with those of Mexican descent, had increased odds of transitioning to attempts relative to no ideation group. Depression was not associated with the transition from ideation to attempts or persistent ideation. Conclusions: Suicide prevention efforts with Latino/a youth should target family and school connectedness as intervention strategies. Attention to diversity within Latinx subgroups should be emphasized.
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A number of factors are associated with adolescent suicidal behaviors. One such factor is depressive symptoms, and there are multiple measures designed to assess youth depressive symptoms. One of the most commonly used instruments to assess depressive symptoms in youth is the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the association between the CDI total score and adolescent suicidality (e.g., suicidal ideation, suicide attempts). Research reports were located through searching databases (e.g., PsycINFO) and reviewing reference lists. A total of 56 research reports (N = 24,369) were identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Due to non-overlapping subgroups, 66 correlations were included in a random-effects model. The overall correlation between the CDI total score and suicidality was found to be 0.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.32, 0.41], 80% credibility interval (CrI) [0.13, 0.60], I² = 94.15. Two coded study characteristics were found to significantly moderate effect sizes: when passive suicidal ideation was incorporated into the measurement of suicidality and sample type (i.e., clinical, school, community, forensic, mixed). Based on the results of this meta-analysis, CDI total scores could be used as a tool for evaluating adolescents' suicide risk. However, a determination of adolescents' suicide risk should never be based on CDI results alone, and the limitations of this meta-analysis should be considered when evaluating the strength of the findings.
The mediating role of hopelessness in the relationship between self-esteem, social anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Japanese university students who visited a university health care center
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Citation Excerpt :
Additionally, hopelessness partially mediated the influence of self-esteem and social anxiety on depression. The results are consistent with previous studies, which show that low self-esteem (Creemers et al., 2012; Overholser et al., 1995; Wild et al., 2004) and high social anxiety (Davidson et al., 2011; Gallagher et al., 2014; Sareen et al., 2005) are strongly associated with suicidal ideation and other suicide-related behaviors. The development of suicidal ideation in individuals with low self-esteem has been shown to occur via the social aspects of self-esteem.
: Suicide is a serious social health problem, especially among young adults. This study aimed to investigate the link between self-esteem, social anxiety, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation among Japanese university students.
: Data were collected from 322 university students (Mage = 21; 61.8% male) who visited the Hokkaido University Health Care Center in Japan for psychiatric consultation. Participants completed questionnaires including the Rosenberg Selfesteem Scale, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire 9, to measure the severity of depression and suicidal ideation. Structural equation models were created to examine the direct and indirect effects of self-esteem and social anxiety on suicidal ideation through hopelessness.
: Multiple regression analysis showed that self-esteem and social anxiety were significant predictors of suicidal ideation. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that the effects of self-esteem and social anxiety on suicidal ideation were partially mediated by hopelessness. Bootstrap results indicated that the direct and indirect effects were significant. In a sub-analysis, hopelessness also partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem, social anxiety and depression.
: The cross-sectional nature and sample collecting method of the study may prevent the results from being generalized to the overall populations. Additionally, the reliability of the ninth item of PHQ-9 in evaluating suicidal ideation remains conflicted.
: This study demonstrated the mediating role of hopelessness in suicidal university students with low self-esteem and high social anxiety. Our results suggest that future suicide prevention programs may be more effective when targeting subjects' self-esteem, social anxiety, and hopelessness levels.
States and Processes for Mental Health: Advancing Psychotherapy Effectiveness
2021, States and Processes for Mental Health: Advancing Psychotherapy Effectiveness
Assessing the Role of Sports Participation on Depression, Suicide Ideation, and Suicide Behaviors Among Adolescents Before and During COVID-19
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: This research was funded in part by a grant from the Charles Rieley Armington Research Program on Values in Children. We are indebted to Julie Conrad, Melina Barecca, Nisha Waghray, and Dana Sims for assistance with the data entry stage of this project, and Tony Spirito for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Presented at the American Psychological Association annual convention, August 1993, Toronto.

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ARTICLESSelf-Esteem Deficits and Suicidal Tendencies among Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusions

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Adolesc

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad ChildAdolesc Psychiatry

Pers Indiv Diff

Sex differences and adolescent depression

J Abnorm Psychol

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition-revised (DSM-III-R)

Coping strategies, self-perceptions, hopelessness, and perceived family environments in depressed and suicidal children

J Consult Clin Psychol

Gender differences in symptoms of depression among adolescents

J Health Soc Behav

Self-esteem in young men: a longitudinal analysis of the impact of educational and occupational attainment

J Pers Soc Psychol

A longitudinal study of the self-concept of low-income youth

Adolescence

Three cognitive theories of depression

Psychol Med

Cognitive Therapy of Depression

Hopelessness and eventual suicide: a 10-year prospective study of patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation

Am J Psychiatry

Vulnerable self-esteem as a predisposing factor in depressive disorders

Problems in the assessment of self-esteem

Int J Advancement Counsel

Participation and self-esteem: a test of six alternative explanations

Adolescence

Emotional distress in adolescent psychiatric inpatients: direct and indirect measures

J Pers Assess

Measures of self-esteem for school-age children

J Counsel Dev

Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests

Psychometrika

The development of the self-schema in adult depression

J Abnorm Psychol

The development of the self-concept during the adolescent years

Monogr Soc Res Child Dev

The dimensionality of self-esteem: II. Hierarchical facet model for revised measurement scales

J Pers Soc Psychol

Prevalence of specific suicidal behaviors in a high school sample

Am J Psychiatry

Suicidal behaviors in young adolescents

Am J Epidemiol

Measurement of global self-concept versus multiple role-specific self-concepts in adolescents

Adolescence

Self-esteem in the classroom

Sch Psychol Int

The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents: a concurrent validity study

Psychol Sch

ARTICLES
Self-Esteem Deficits and Suicidal Tendencies among Adolescents