Interaction of sexual violence perpetration and victimization on suicide attempts in Korean adolescents on additive and multiplicative scales: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the associations and interaction between sexual violence perpetration and victimization on suicide attempts using a large representative sample of adolescents from South Korea.

Methods: Based on data from 515,247 adolescents aged 12-18 years from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (2006-2012), a nationally representative repeated cross-sectional survey, we obtained self-reports of suicide attempts over the past year and of lifetime sexual violence perpetration and victimization. Using complex survey weights, weighted logistic regression models were employed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs). The interaction analyses were conducted on both additive and multiplicative scales. All analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls.

Results: Lifetime prevalence of sexual violence perpetration were 1.3% for boys and 0.4% for girls, and about 40% of those perpetrating sexual violence were also victims. After adjusting for several covariates, sexual violence perpetration was independently associated with suicide attempts in boys (OR_adjusted for boys 1.80 [95% confidence intervals: 1.53, 2.11]), whereas in girls, the association was only marginally significant (OR_adjusted for girls 1.27 [1.00, 1.63]). We found the negative multiplicative and additive interaction between the sexual violence perpetration and victimization on suicide attempts for both boys and girls (the ratio of ORs 0.30 [0.23, 0.39] for boys and 0.20 [0.12, 0.31] for girls; relative excess risk due to interaction - 1.20 [-1.91, - 0.50] for boys and - 2.33 [-3.00, - 1.66] for girls).

Conclusion: Sexual violence perpetration and victimization were independently and interactively associated with suicide attempts in adolescents, with a sub-additive interaction found between these two variables. Public mental health services and policies should recognize the importance of actively involving adolescents who had sexually perpetrated others as key intervention targets.