Adolescent suicidal behavior: study of risk and protective factors based on network analysis

Bullying is one of the main risk factors for suicidal behavior in children and adolescents.

Save the Children latest report on mental health in children and adolescents "Crecer Saludable(mente)" (Growing Up Healthy) warns about the increase in suicidal behavior among childhood and adolescence.

The key to the study of suicidal behavior is to take into consideration both, risk and protective factors, in order to understand why it occurs and how to prevent it.

In a study conducted with a sample of 1790 students aged 14-18, Eduardo Fonseca Pedrero and his team observed a high relevance of depressive symptoms and bullying as risk factors and self-esteem and subjective well-being as protective factors.

This study was conducted using a network approach, a growing methodology in the study of mental health. The network approach allows to interrelate behavioral, psychological and environmental data in a dynamic way, thus providing information for a better understanding and conceptualization of suicidal behavior while, at the same time, allowing to add valuable knowledge for its prevention.

Fonseca-Pedrero, E., Al-Halabí, S., Pérez-Albéniz, A., & Debbané, M. (2022). Risk and Protective Factors in Adolescent Suicidal Behaviour: A Network Analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1784. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031784