Examining Suicidality, Bullying, and Gun Carrying Among Latina/o Youth Over 10 Years

Latino/a youth have reported the highest rates of suicide attempts compared to White and African American youth for over 40 years. The data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) cross-sectional subsamples of Latino/a youth (N = 13,378) at every year of data collection between 2005 and 2015 were examined for bullying, gun carrying, and suicidality. Results indicate that Latina girls are significantly more likely than boys to make a suicide attempt and report more bullying and more cyberbullying, but are less likely to carry a gun. Being bullied or carrying a gun were significantly associated with greater likelihood of suicide attempt among both boys and girls. Youth who carried a gun overall had higher rates of suicide attempts whether they were bullied or not, whereas youth who did not carry a gun were significantly more likely to attempt suicide if they were bullied. Over the past 10 years, gun carrying has decreased significantly for Latino boys and suicide attempts have decreased significantly for Latina girls. Findings have important implications of considering intersections of race and gender when developing antibullying and suicide prevention strategies. There are important policy implications for considering the mental well-being of youth who are caught carrying guns at school and considering that victimization varies by ethnicity and gender. Public Policy Relevance Statement In the current study, Latina girls reported higher rates of suicide attempts, depressive symptoms, and bullying than did Latino boys. Latino boys reported higher rates of gun carrying. Gun carrying and bullying were significantly associated with suicide attempts for both Latina girls and Latino boys. There are important policy implications for considering the mental well-being of youth who are caught carrying guns at school and considering that victimization varies by ethnicity and gender.