Interaction of smoking and being bullied on suicidal behaviors: a school-based cross-sectional survey in China

BACKGROUND: Suicidal behaviors are seriously social issues among adolescents in the world. Exposed to smoking and being bullied are risk factors of suicidal behaviors. The present study was aimed to examine the interaction of smoking and being bullied on suicidal behaviors among Chinese adolescents. METHODS: A total of 18,900 students were involved in the questionnaire study, in four cities of China from November 2017 to January 2018. Suicidal behaviors, smoking, and being bullied were measured by self-reported validated instruments. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to analyze the associations of suicidal ideation (SI)/suicidal plan (SP)/suicidal attempt (SA), smoking, and being bullied. RESULTS: The prevalence of smoking, being bullied, SI/SP/SA, were 3.1%, 20.6%, 26.4%, 13.2%, and 5.2% respectively. Interaction analysis indicated that being bullied was associated with a greater increase in the likelihood of suicidal behaviors for adolescents with smoking than for those without smoking. CONCLUSIONS: These finding suggest that smoking exacerbates the association between being bullied and suicidal behaviors. Future research should explore how and why smoking appears to more bully-victims than for those without smoking and how to mitigate it. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12199-021-00999-1.