Examining the association between prescription opioid misuse and suicidal behaviors among adolescent high school students in the United States

Philip Baiden, Genevieve Graaf, Mariama Zaami, Charles K. Acolatse, Yvonne Adeku

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although some studies have examined the association between prescription opioid misuse and mental health outcomes, few studies have examined the effects of prescription opioid misuse on suicidal behaviors among adolescents. The objective of this study was to examine the association between prescription opioid misuse and suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt among adolescents. Data for this study came from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. A sample of 8830 adolescents aged 14–18 years (50.9% female) were analyzed using logistic regression with suicidal ideation, suicide plan, and suicide attempt as outcome variables and prescription opioid misuse as the main explanatory variable. Of the 8830 adolescents, 13.3% ever misused prescription opioids; 17.7% experienced suicidal ideation, 13.3% made a suicide plan, and 6.5% attempted suicide during the past 12 months. In the multivariate logistic regression models, adolescent students who misused prescription opioids were 1.50 times more likely to have experienced suicidal ideation, 1.44 times more likely to have made a suicide plan, and 1.58 times more likely to have attempted suicide during the past 12 months when compared to their counterparts who did not misuse prescription opioids. Other significant predictors of suicidal behaviors include sexual minority, history of sexual assault, traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization, feeling sad or hopeless, cigarette smoking, and illicit drug use. The findings of the present study demonstrate the harmful effects of prescription opioid misuse and its association with suicidal behaviors among adolescents.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)44-51
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Psychiatric Research
Volume112
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2019

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Prescription opioid misuse
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Suicide attempt
  • Suicide plan

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