Exposure to physical and sexual violence and suicidal ideation among schoolchildren

ABSTRACT Objective The purpose of this study was to estimate the association between exposure to physical and sexual violence, and suicidal ideation in Brazilian Schoolchildren, accounting for confounding variables of religious practice, and problems with alcohol and other drugs. Methods This study consists of a cross-sectional analytical approach of a larger school-based study conducted in 2012 in two medium-sized municipalities in south of Brazil. Participants were 3,547 students aging 12 to 17 years old who answered an assembled questionnaire. Descriptive and Logistic Regression analyses were conducted with suicide ideation outcome testing prediction models stratified by sex. Results Suicide ideation prevalence in the sample was of 21.7%, and regression analysis indicated that girls and boys exposed to physical or sexual violence had 3.42 and 3.14 times more probability of referring suicidal ideation in the past 30 days. Adjusted analyses showed little interference of religious practice, while problems with alcohol and other drugs seemed to also explain suicidal ideation in the sample. Conclusion We highlight the importance of future longitudinal studies to investigate the mechanisms through which exposure to physical or sexual abuse influence suicidal ideation among boys and girls, as well as mediation studies that could enlighten the role of drug and alcohol use in this relationship.