Victimization and Resilience: Experiences of Rural LGBTQ+ Youth Across Multiple Contexts

Contribution of Risk and Resilience Factors to Suicidality among Mental Health-Help-Seeking Adolescent Outpatients: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Peer victimization is an established risk factor for youth suicidal thoughts and behavior (suicidality), yet most peer-victimized youth are not suicidal. More data are needed pertaining to factors that confer resilience to youth suicidality.

AIM

To identify resilience factors for youth suicidality in a sample of N = 104 (Mean age 13.5 years, 56% female) outpatient mental health help-seeking adolescents.

METHODS

Participants completed self-report questionnaires on their first outpatient visit, including the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions, a battery of risk (peer victimization and negative life events) and resilience (self-reliance, emotion regulation, close relationships and neighborhood) measures.

RESULTS

36.5% of participants screened positive for suicidality. Peer victimization was positively associated with suicidality (odds ratio [OR] = 3.84, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.95-8.62, p < 0.001), while an overall multi-dimensional measure of resilience factors was inversely associated with suicidality (OR, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.11-0.59, p = 0.002). Nevertheless, high peer victimization was found to be associated with a greater chance of suicidality across all levels of resilience (marked by non-significant peer victimization by resilience interaction, p = 0.112).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence for the protective association of resilience factors and suicidality in a psychiatric outpatient population. The findings may suggest that interventions that enhance resilience factors may mitigate suicidality risk.

Prevalence and Predictors of Poly-Victimization of Adolescents in England and Wales

This study examined the change in the prevalence of adolescent poly-victimization and individual and area predictors of poly-victimization in England and Wales. The national representative longitudinal Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (2003-2006) was analyzed with data from 2,066 adolescents, aged between 10 and 18 years (mean ± SD at Time 1 = 13.08 ± 2.01), using multilevel multinomial logit models. Findings revealed that the majority of the adolescents (41.6%, 48.5%, 54.6%, 61.6%, respectively) did not experience victimization between 2003 and 2006. However, 28.3%, 25.9%, 19.5%, and 14.5% of the adolescents experienced poly-victimization (experiencing more than or equal to two types of victimizations), with a decrease of 13.8% over the 4-year period. Furthermore, some adolescents were consistent poly-victims, meaning they were poly-victims in all years that they participated in the survey. In particular, 3.57% of the adolescents who participated in the four waves of the survey were poly-victims in all years; 7.41% of the adolescents who participated in three of the four waves of the survey were poly-victims in all years; and 25.79% of the adolescents who participated in two of the four waves of the survey were poly-victims in both years. Statistically significant predictors of poly-victimization included having parents who have been in trouble with the police, offending, participating in community-related activities, being a boy, not managing income well, and living in an urban or deprived area. Offending had the greatest impact on poly-victimization. Findings highlight that adolescent poly-victimization in England and Wales decreased between 2003 and 2006 but some adolescents were more likely to experience poly-victimization due to individual, familial, and area characteristics. The findings therefore indicate that a holistic approach is needed to reduce adolescent poly-victimization and suggest that targeting area deprivation should be the priority.

Coping Strategies to Enhance the Mental Wellbeing of Sexual and Gender Minority Youths: A Scoping Review

Robust population-based research has established that sexual and gender minority youths (SGMYs) are at an increased risk of mental ill-health, but there is a dearth of literature that seeks to explore how to best support SGMY mental wellbeing. This scoping review aims to identify findings related to coping strategies and/or interventions for building resilience and/or enhancing the mental wellbeing of SGMYs. PRISMA extension for scoping review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines was utilized for this review. Studies were included if they were peer-reviewed papers containing primary data; reported psycho-social coping strategies for SGMY; were conducted with SGMYs in the adolescent age range; and were published in English. MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched. Of the 3692 papers initially identified, 68 papers were included with 24 intervention-focused studies of 17 unique interventions found. The most commonly cited therapeutic modality was cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (n = 11 studies). Despite the need to support the mental wellbeing of SGMYs, few interventions focused on this area and unique populations have been reported upon in the peer-reviewed literature. As a result, there is considerable potential to develop supports for SGMYs.