Effect of Adolescents' violence victimization experience on suicidal ideation: Analysis of the mediating Effect of alcohol drinking

Background: Adolescent’s suicide and school violence are serious social problems in Korea these days. According to previous studies, violence and drinking have an impact on suicidal ideation. Compared to prior research, this study investigates the effects of the violence victimization experience of adolescents to suicidal ideation and defines the mediating effect of juvenile alcohol drinking.

Method: We analyzed the data from Wave 9 of Korean Youth Health Risk Behavior web-based Survey (2013) by the Korean Center for Disease Control. The data contained a total of 72,435 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 from 800 schools. Violence victimization was estimated by treatments received at a hospital for bodily assaults, threats, and bullying. Suicidal ideation was identified as serious suicidal thoughts within the past 12 months. Problem drinking was measured by the ‘CRAFFT’ scale. Binominal logistic regression analysis and the Z mediation verification method were used to estimate mediating effects.

Results: The results show that; 1) adolescents’ violence victimization experience significantly affects their suicidal ideation, 2) violence experience increases problem drinking behavior, 3) drinking mediates the association between violence victimization experience and suicidal ideation, and 4) problem drinking behavior has a partial mediating effect on this relationship (Z mediation=5.75, p<0.05) .

Conclusion: Based on the findings, violence victimization are associated with alcohol drinking, and there is a statistically significant impact on suicidal ideation by problem drinking. We could propose proper intervention plans to prevent juvenile drinking among the violence victims.