An Empirical Study of the Relationship between Bullying and Suicide
Open Access
- Author:
- Ulmer, Victoria Rose
- Area of Honors:
- Health Policy and Administration
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Naleef Fareed, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- health
policy
health policy
school safety
bullying
cyber bulling
suicide ideation
suicide attempt - Abstract:
- Bullying is a significant issue in schools, with one in three students claiming to be affected. Bullying can take shape in a number of ways, directly, indirectly, and the newest form, through the Internet. The relationship between bullying and suicide is linked, but complex, with no known causal association. This study utilizes the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS) National High School Data from 2013 to examine the relationships between school safety and suicide-related behaviors. The variables analyzed reflect two separate hypotheses. Firstly, that the more a student feels unsafe, threatened, or fights in school, the more likely they will be to engage in the suicide-related behaviors of ideation and attempt. Secondly, the more a student is bullied or cyber bullied, the more likely they will be to engage in suicide-related behaviors. Results show strong positive correlations, and all tests were statistically significant. Notably, the likelihood for suicide ideation was higher with an increase in bullying, while the likelihood for suicide attempt was higher with an increase in cyber bullying. Females are more likely to engage in ideation and attempts than males, and the school age most affected in 15-16 year old students. These results were consistent with the existent research and supported the call to action for policymakers, school officials, and peers to acknowledge bullying as a significant public health issue, and design interventions accordingly.