Youth Helping Youth

Young people report providing a range of helping behaviors for those struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These data provide insights into what they do to help and also barriers to helping.

• Prevention trains third parties (“bystanders or gatekeepers”) to identify risk and provide help.
• Yet we know little about the range of help provided to those who struggle with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
• Among more than 1000 adolescents and young adults across the US, most (83.1%) reported STB exposure at some point in their life and provided help (74.5% of those who knew someone).
• Ways youth helped:
  Told the person they were important to them (69.5%)
  Told the person they were worried about them (68.6%)
  Gave the person time to get better (62.4%)
  Talked to a friend about their worries for this person (57.2%)
  Encouraged the person to get counseling (55.1%)
  Encourage the person to talk to their family (41.3%)
  Encouraged the person to contact a hotline (31.9%)
  Talked to an adult for help and advice about this person (30.9%)
  Contacted a crisis hotline themselves for help for this person (10.6%)
• Intention to help was predicted by social norms and having knowledge of resources, and such knowledge (but not social norms) was also related to actual helping behaviors.
• Qualitative analyses of short open-ended questions documented a range of barriers to helping:
  Found out after it happened
  Lived at a distance / was not present at the time / not in contact at the time
  Not very close to the person at the time
  Person kept me away / refused help
  Too young at the time to be aware or help
  Not sure how to help / didn’t think anything could be done

Source: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8606

Implications for Social Support

Exposure to suicidal thoughts and behaviors may negatively impact youth, including higher risk for personal thoughts of suicide and attempts and depression. Such exposure may pose particular risk for sexual and gender minority youth who have elevated rates of suicidal behavior and depression. Social support can be a critical factor in well-being, particularly in the context of exposure to suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

• Sexual and gender minority youth are more likely to know someone close to them who attempted suicide, relative to cisgender youth.
• Cisgender heterosexual youth were buffered from recent depressed mood when they endorsed having high social support in the context of exposure to suicidal behavior; less support did not provide such a buffer.
• For cisgender sexual minority male and female youth, exposure to suicidal behavior was
  related to recent depressed mood regardless of the level of social support.
• For gender minority youth assigned female at birth, the combination of exposure and high social support was significantly associated with elevated depressed mood.
• Findings suggest that for some youth, social support may not always be protective
  or always associated with well-being.

Source: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/147/4/e2020033134/180820/Exposure-to-Suicidal-Behavior-and-Social-Support?searchresult=1

Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Prevention

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors is a significant public health issue for adolescents and emerging adults, and yet youth exposure to prevention messaging and youth perspectives on these prevention needs are understudied.

• More than 1000 adolescents and young adults across the US reported on exposure to STB prevention messaging and perspectives on prevention needs.
• 87% of youth had received prevention exposure from at least one source:
  61.7% from a website
  51.6% from a family member (44.7% said a family member had talked to them about suicide more generally and 26.7% said a family members had talked to them about how to help someone at risk)
  57.8% had been to a talk about suicide prevention
  22% had attended a specific program
• Sexual and gender minority youth reported accessing more STB prevention information online compared to other youth.
• Many youth had ideas about what information they still needed:
  Information on how to access and get more access to community resources (14%)
  Knowledge of warning signs and cases of STB (24.6%)
  Information and skills for how to help someone at risk for STB (28.9%)
  Coping skills for dealing with STB thoughts and feelings (21.9%)
  Helping yourself so you can help someone else (7%)
  Building healthier relationships and more social support (8.8%)
  Strengths like emotional regulations skills, sense of mattering (8.8%)
  Changing norms so it is okay to ask for help and de-stigmatize STB (13.2%)

Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-022-01356-6

Mental Healthcare

Good mental health helps young people handle emotions, build resilience and strength, stay connected with others, have healthy relationships, and do well at school and work. Mental health concerns are unlikely to get better on their own, so it’s important to seek help. Barriers to getting mental health treatment exist — here’s what youth tell us about that.

Many reported barriers that would affect their decision to seek treatment for a mental health problem from a professional, like a psychologist or counselor:

• 34.5% said that to knowing where to get help was a barrier
• 28.2% said that not having a way to get to a treatment center was a barrier
• 39.9% said it was too hard to schedule an appointment
• 51.1% said it would be hard getting time off work or school for treatment
• 67.9% said getting treatment costs too much money

Source: Mitchell, KJ & Banyard, V (2021-2026). Understanding Bystanders for Self-Directed Violence Prevention: A Prospective National Study Highlighting Marginalized Youth and Young Adults. Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health 2021-2026 Original Grant Number: R01MH128269, unpublished data.