Editorial: Antibullying Initiatives and Suicide Prevention

Abstract

In this issue of JAACAP, Kreski et al.¹ report concerningly high rates of bullying and suicidal behavior among high school students across the United States and highlight that rates among racially and gender diverse students are especially high. Involvement in bullying, whether as perpetrator, victim, or both, are known risk factors for suicidality.² Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)³ obtained from high school students across the United States biannually, the authors examined bullying, including cyberbullying, and suicidal behavior, specifically past-year suicide attempts, as reported in 2015, 2017, and 2019 (N = 44,066). Among specific demographic groups, rates of self-reported bullying ranged from a low of 17.6% for Black students, less frequent than White students at 28.5%, to a high of 42.2% among bisexual students, or 2.5 times the rate for heterosexual youth at 23%. As is well known, adolescent girls reported higher rates of bullying than boys, 30.4% and 19.3%, respectively. As for suicide attempts in the past 12 months, gender diverse youths reported disproportionately high rates, highest among bisexual students at 26.5%, 5.6 times more likely than heterosexual students, followed by gay/lesbian students at 19.7%. Among racialized groups, American Indian/Alaskan Native and Non-Hispanic Multiracial youth reported high rates of past-year suicide attempts, 16.2% and 12.9% respectively. Girls were twice as likely as boys to report a past-year suicide attempt, at 10.6%. Over time, rates of bullying remained relatively stable except for increased bullying for gay and lesbian students, of whom almost half (44.5%) reported bullying in 2019. No significant shifts in rates occurred for report of suicide attempts.