Childhood Depression, Adolescent Alcohol Use and Suicide Attempt: An Exploration of Moderated Mediation

• Activity Number: 94 - Suicidal Ideation, Behavior, and Risk: Assessing Mediating Factors and Designing Interventions
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Monday, July 31, 2017 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): Rashelle Jean Musci* and Trang Q Nguyen and Nicholas Ialongo and Holly Wilcox
• Companies: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Keywords: Suicide attempt ; Alcohol ; Urban ; African American ; Moderation ; Mediation

Abstract

Moderated mediation analyses explore whether or not a mediation effect is equal across different groups of individuals or values of the independent variable (Preacher, Rucker & Hayes, 2007). Previous work has put forth methodology to explore conditional indirect effects, as defined by Preacher and colleagues (2007) but little work has explored these complex models in relation to suicide related behaviors. Utilizing the varying definitions of moderated mediation set forth by Preacher and colleagues (2007), we explore the complex relationship between childhood depression, adolescent alcohol use, and suicide attempt in emerging adulthood. This will be accomplished using an urban, predominately African American, community-based longitudinal prevention intervention trial, which began data collection in the Baltimore City public schools in 1993. Participants completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms, alcohol use frequency and items related to suicide ideation and attempt. The results from this study have implications for the application of moderated mediation methods in mental health, and further may offer novel areas for suicide prevention among urban youth.