(PS9-A15) Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for Suicide Ideation and Attempts in Minoritized Youth

Background and

Objective: Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for adolescents. Specific characteristics of sleep, such as short sleep duration, have been shown to be significant risk factors for suicide ideation and attempts. However, recent research has demonstrated that suicide risk factors identified in predominantly white samples of youth do not have the same association with suicide for certain racial minority youth. Not understanding risk factors for minoritized youth is alarming since suicide rates have sharply increased in the past few years. Sleep may be one such factor that does not associate with suicide ideation and attempts in racial minority youth in the same way as for white youth. The current study evaluated the association of total sleep duration with past-year suicide ideation and attempts and whether these relationships were moderated by race in a diverse sample of adolescents.  

Methods: Data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS; CDC, 2020) were used for this study which included 13,725 high school students. The sample was 50.3% female and 49.2% male. The 4-level race variable was used which included: White (48.8%), Black or African American (14.9%), Hispanic/Latinx (22.2%), and 10.9% identifying as “other.” Several items from the YRBS were used. One assessed typical hours of sleep per night, one item assessed past-year suicide ideation (yes/no), and one item assessed frequency of past-year suicide attempts (ranging from 0=none to  6=6 or more attempts). Within the sample, 19.3% of participants reported past-year suicide ideation, and 7.8% reported past-year suicide attempt(s).  

Results:   The PROCESS Macro for SPSS was used to examine race as a moderator in the relationship between sleep duration and both past-year suicide ideation and attempts. The first model found that race was a significant moderator in the relationship between sleep duration and past-year suicide ideation. Simple slope analyses found the relationship to be significant and strongest for White (b= -.38, p=< .001) and Hispanic (b= -.36, p=< .001) youth, and weakest for Black youth (b= -.14, p =.001). The second model found that race also moderated the relationship between sleep duration and frequency of past-year suicide attempts. Simple slope analyses indicated that this relationship was weakest for Black youth (b= -.025, p=.03) compared to youth from other racial groups; the strongest relationship was found for White youth (b= -.053, p< .001). Interestingly, Black youth reported the least amount of sleep, the lowest prevalence of suicide ideation (17.7%), but the highest rates of suicide attempts (14.6%).  

Conclusion:   Results suggest that what are considered robust risk factors for suicide do not associate with suicide ideation and attempts as strongly for minoritized youth, particularly Black youth. It may be that risk factors for minoritized youth are different, and/or it may be that these factors need to be assessed using culturally relevant language. Future research should examine all possible suicide risk factors for minoritized youth to illuminate our understanding of increasing suicide rates, and to inform culturally appropriate prevention and intervention strategies.