Understanding suicidality in Pacific adolescents in New Zealand using network analysis

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Gossage, LE, Narayanan, A, Dipnall, JF, Berk, M, Sumich, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4333-8442, Haslbeck, JMB, Iusitini, L, Wrapson, W, Tautolo, E and Siegert, R, 2023. Understanding suicidality in Pacific adolescents in New Zealand using network analysis. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 53 (5), pp. 826-842. ISSN 0363-0234

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12986

Abstract

Introduction: Pacific adolescents in New Zealand (NZ) are three to four times more likely than NZ European adolescents to report suicide attempts and have higher rates of suicidal plans. Suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts, termed suicidality in this study, result from a complex dynamic interplay of factors, which emerging methodologies like network analysis aim to capture.

Methods: This study used cross-sectional network analysis to model the relationships between suicidality, self-harm, and individual depression symptoms, whilst conditioning on a multi-dimensional set of variables relevant to suicidality. A series of network models were fitted to data from a community sample of New Zealand-born Pacific adolescents (n = 550; 51% male; Mean age (SD) = 17 (0.35)).

Results: Self-harm and the depression symptom measuring pessimism had the strongest associations with suicidality, followed by symptoms related to having a negative self-image about looks and sadness. Nonsymptom risk factors for self-harm and suicidality differed markedly.

Conclusions: Depression symptoms varied widely in terms of their contribution to suicidality, highlighting the valuable information gained from analysing depression at the symptom-item level. Reducing the sources of pessimism and building self-esteem presented as potential targets for alleviating suicidality amongst Pacific adolescents in New Zealand. Suicide prevention strategies need to include risk factors for self-harm.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Creators:	Gossage, L.E., Narayanan, A., Dipnall, J.F., Berk, M., Sumich, A., Haslbeck, J.M.B., Iusitini, L., Wrapson, W., Tautolo, E. and Siegert, R.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	9 October 2023
Volume:	53
Number:	5
ISSN:	0363-0234
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/sltb.12986 DOI 1817932 Other
Rights:	© 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	11 Oct 2023 09:35
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 09:35
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49952