Bullying victimization and suicidal ideation in adolescents: The moderation effect of family, teachers and peers support

Abstract

The aim of this study has been to analyze the moderation role of social support in the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal ideation in adolescents. For this purpose, 898 Spanish adolescents ( M Age = 13.55; SD = 1.26) responded to the Peer School Victimization Scale, to the Scale of Perceived Social Support, to the Spanish Adaptation of School Environment Scale, and to the Suicide Risk Inventory for Adolescents. The results revealed that: (1) Higher levels of bullying victimization had a worse impact on suicidal ideation in females than in males; (2) In general, Family Support was more useful for females in reducing suicidal ideation, but in bullying victimization cases, a greater Family Support for men was more effective in reducing suicidal ideation than in females; (3) Peer Support was more useful for reducing suicidal ideation in females and in students that did not retake a course; (4) Regardless of the analyzed personal characteristics (sex, age and retake a course), teacher support contributes to reducing suicidal ideation. These results have important practical implications in that they allow to observe the relevance of peer and family interactions in learning processes in order to reduce one of the leading causes of adolescent death, as it is the case of the suicidal behavior.