Browsing by Author "Fuschini, Beatriz"
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- From family conflicts to suicide risk through deliberate self-harm online content in adolescents and young adultsPublication . Fuschini, Beatriz; Duarte, Eva; P. Miranda, Mariana; Gouveia-Pereira, Mariaself-harm (DSH) and even suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Research also shows that adolescents are increasingly engaging in online DSH activities. However, studies on this topic are scarce. Aims: This study’s first goal is to replicate the effect of family conflicts on suicidal ideation (SI) and, according to the gateway theory, include DSH diversity as a step preceding SI. Second, we aim to consider online activities in understanding suicidal risk. We start by describing online DSH activities, and propose a sequential mediation model in which family conflicts predict DSH and SI through online DSH activities. Methods: The convenience sample of this cross-sectional study consisted of 357 adolescents and young adults between 12 and 22 years old who completed a self-report questionnaire measuring family conflicts, online DSH activities, identification with DSH-related content creators, DSH, and suicidal ideation. Results: The results showed that 85.3% of our community sample used the internet for DSH-related purposes. Results also revealed an independent mediation effect of DSH diversity on the relationship between family conflicts and SI, and a sequential mediation effect of online DSH activities, identification, and DSH diversity. Conclusions: Engaging in online DSH activities is only predictive of DSH or SI if adolescents perceive a shared identity with this community of creators. The findings might yield implications regarding the design of prevention strategies that include a further supervision of online platforms and psychological interventions that incorporate the family system and peers
- Unpacking the contribution of deliberate self-harm diversity to suicide risk among adolescentsPublication . Fuschini, Beatriz; Basto-Pereira, Miguel; Duarte, Eva; Pereira, MariaSuicidality is a multifaceted phenomenon affected by several multisystemic vulnerabilities, including demographic, psychopathological, and family factors. However, few studies have explored the contribution of specific features of deliberate self-harm (DSH) to suicide risk, particularly DSH diversity, while also accounting for other relevant explanatory family and mental health dimensions. The main goal of this study was to examine if DSH diversity predicts the risk for suicide in adolescents in the presence of sociodemographics, depressive symptoms, and family relationship characteristics. This study consisted of 437 Portuguese adolescents (53.8% male, 42.8% female, 3.4% non-binary; Mage= 15.2, SD = 1.87), of which 220 confirmed having a lifetime history of DSH. The participants completed a self-report questionnaire measuring depressive symptomatology, interparental conflicts, family communication, DSH, and suicidal ideation. A logistic regression analysis was conducted. Our multivariate model revealed that depressive symptoms, family communication, and DSH diversity are predictors of suicide risk in adolescents. The strongest predictor was depressive symptoms. The analyses indicated that our global model has excellent predictive validity to discriminate between those with and without suicide risk, and the inclusion of DSH diversity enhances the identification of these vulnerable youth. In addition, our results suggest that non-binary gender adolescents are particularly at risk. The set of characteristics we found that predict suicide risk highlights the multisystemic nature of this phenomenon: individual/ psychopathological and relational dimensions. We also underscore the need to be vigilant of adolescents’ number of used DSH behaviors. Our findings provide valuable information for developing multisystemic targeted interventions aimed at preventing and reducing suicide risk among adolescents.