Frontiers in Psychology (Feb 2020)

Adolescent Suicide Ideation, Depression and Self-Esteem: Relationships to a New Measure of Gender Role Conflict

  • Cormac O’Beaglaoich,
  • Cormac O’Beaglaoich,
  • Jessica McCutcheon,
  • Paul F. Conway,
  • Paul F. Conway,
  • Joan Hanafin,
  • Joan Hanafin,
  • Todd G. Morrison

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00111
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Among 15–24 year olds in Ireland, completed suicide was responsible for 4.1 times more male deaths than female deaths in 2014 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2017). Few international research studies have investigated the relationship between masculinity [as assessed by a measure of gender role conflict (GRC)] and suicide ideation, and none have done so with Irish adolescents. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between a new measure of GRC developed specifically for use with Irish adolescents (I-GRCS-A; O’Beaglaoich et al., 2016), and depression, self-esteem, and negative/protective suicide ideation. A sample of 176 adolescent boys (M = 16.9, SD = 0.94) from a non-clinical population participated in the study. Regression analyses and tests of mediation revealed that depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and negative suicide ideation, whilst self-esteem and depression significantly mediated the relationship between GRC and positive suicide ideation. Implications and limitations of the current study are outlined and directions for future research are discussed.

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