Bullying and other risk factors related to adolescent suicidal behaviours in the Philippines: a look into the 2011 GSHS Survey

BACKGROUNDS: The present study retrospectively examined gender differences in bullying and suicidal behaviour (ideation, plan, and attempts) as well as associations between selected risk factors and suicidal behaviour among secondary school Filipino students. METHODS: The study used a secondary data set from the GSHS developed by the World Health Organization, which was conducted in the Philippines in 2011. Participants included 5290 Filipino students (male N = 2279, female N = 2986). A two-tailed Chi-square of independence was used to test for gender differences and a multivariate logistic regression model explored statistical associations between risk factors and outcome variables. RESULTS: Chi-square results suggested that gender differences were statistically significant for being bullied χ2 (1, N = 2384) = 10.6, p = .001, experiencing suicidal ideation χ2 (1, N = 857) = 61.7, p = .000, making suicide plans χ2 (1, N = 590) = 10.2, p = .001, and suicide attempts χ2 (1, N = 674) = 8.4, p = .004, with females showing higher vulnerability to examined risk factors. The logistic regression model also suggested that adolescents claiming to have no close friends were three to four times more likely to attempt suicide. Other strong predictors of suicidal behaviours were loneliness and getting in trouble due to alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Bullying is an independent yet, not the strongest predictor associated with adolescents’ suicidal behaviour in the present study. The strongest predictors of Filipino adolescents’ suicidal behaviours in the 2011 cohort included having no close friends, loneliness, anxiety and getting in trouble due to alcohol use among both genders. Peer and mental health support programmes need to be made available and accessible for adolescents in the Philippines. Considering the increase in suicide rates in 2020/2021 among Filipino young adults due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is suggested that preventing suicidal vulnerability in adolescence can hinder this occurrence later on in the lifetime.