The Effect of Adolescent Discrimination Victim Experience on Suicidal Ideation: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem

Abstract

Suicide is the number one cause of death among adolescents, and suicide among adolescents is rapidly increasing. If you have thought about or attempted suicide in adolescence, you are more likely to attempt suicide later. In addition, frequent suicidal thoughts are likely to lead to suicide attempts, and many deaths by suicide occur in people who have experienced suicide attempts. Therefore, preventive social efforts are needed to lower the youth suicide rate. Therefore, in this study, among the factors influencing suicidal ideation in adolescence, the experience of discrimination and self-esteem were considered as the main factors, and the relationship between them was investigated. In other words, the mediating effect of self-esteem was analyzed in the process of experiencing discrimination victimization affecting suicidal ideation. As a result of the study, it was found that the experience of discrimination damage had a significant effect on self-esteem, and self-esteem had a significant effect on suicidal ideation. In addition, the experience of discrimination victimization was found to have a significant effect on suicidal ideation, indicating that self-esteem had a mediating effect in the process of experiencing discrimination victimization affecting suicidal ideation. It was found that the experience of victimization affected suicidal ideation through self-esteem.