Abstract

Suicide ideation is a problem among youths who have been previously abused. This study assesses whether three factors (ie, feeling connected to school, having parents who reward good behaviour, and feeling able to cope with peer conflict) are negatively associated with suicidal ideation for 2598 pre/early adolescents with various levels of prior abuse. For the entire youth population, those who reported all three factors were less than half as likely to have suicidal thoughts as those who did not report any of these factors (10.8% vs 30.3%, p<0.05). This pattern was similar and significant for youths who experienced peer abuse (10.2% vs 35.0%, p<0.05) and youths who experienced both early child abuse and peer abuse (21.6% vs 54.8%, p<0.05). Comprehensive programmes that improve school connectedness, parent–child relationships and coping skills to avoid violent peer conflicts might help decrease suicide ideation among youths, particularly those who have been previously abused.