Interpersonal Trauma in High School: Substance Use as a Moderator of Depression and Suicidality

ABSTRACT

Depression and suicide are major public health concerns, and the number of youths impacted by these phenomena continues to grow. With the detrimental impact depression can have on children and adolescents, it is imperative that researchers explore risks for depression and suicidality to develop prevention programs and inform clinical practice. One such risk factor identified in the literature is being victimized by an interpersonal trauma. Past researchers also report a relationship between depression/suicidality and substance use. The purpose of this study was to examine if there was a significant interaction effect between substance use and experiencing an interpersonal trauma when predicting depression/suicidality in high school students (n = 3,128). A hierarchical logistic regression revealed a statistically significant model, χ² (9) = 446.41, p <.001, accounting for 17.7% of variance in depression/suicidality. Specifically, the effect of interpersonal violence on depression/suicidality was significantly stronger for adolescents who used substances than those who did not. The findings suggest that substance use does act as a moderator between trauma and depression/suicidality, and substance use more dramatically increases depression/suicidality for students who experience an interpersonal trauma.

KEYWORDS:

• High school students
• trauma
• depression
• suicidality
• substance use
• prevention

Disclosure statement

The authors have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted with support through FOA - Promoting Adolescent Health Through School-Based HIV/STD Prevention and School-Based Surveillance CDC-RFA-PS13-1308. DC Grant/DASH 1308 #1U87PS004140-01.