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Identifying Bereavement-Related Markers of Mental and Behavioral Health Problems Among Clinic-Referred Adolescents.
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20190021Abstract
Objective
This study examined bereavement-related risk markers (number of deaths, cause of death, and relationship to deceased) of mental and behavioral health problems (suicidal thoughts or behaviors, self-injury, depression, posttraumatic stress, and substance use) in a national sample of clinic-referred bereaved adolescents.Method
Participants included 1281 bereaved youth aged 12-21 years (M=15, SD=1.8; 62.1% female), from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set.Results
Generalized linear mixed-effects regression models controlling for demographics and other traumas revealed that youth bereaved by multiple deaths had higher posttraumatic stress scores than youth bereaved by a single death (Estimated difference ±SE=3.36 ± 1.11, p=0.003). Youth bereaved by suicide were more likely to report experiencing suicidal thoughts or behaviors (AOR=1.68, p=0.049) and alcohol use (AOR=2.33, p<0.001) than youth bereaved by natural causes. Youth bereaved by homicide were at greater risk for substance use than youth bereaved by natural death (AOR=1.76, p=0.02). Compared to parentally bereaved youth, youth who lost a peer were more likely to use alcohol (AOR=2.32, p=0.02) or other substances (AOR=2.41, p=0.01); in contrast, parentally bereaved youth were more likely to experience depression compared to those who experienced the death of an adult relative or unrelated adult (range of AOR: 0.40 to 0.64, p-values<0.05).Conclusion
These bereavement-related contextual factors can serve as early markers of mental and behavioral health problems among bereaved youth.Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.
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