Rachael Dumas

Self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and suicide attempts represent four of the top ten leading causes of nonfatal, violence-related emergency department visits among adolescents aged 10-17. These self-harming behaviors are important as they place youth at high risk for suicide. Though illness is a risk factor for suicide in adults and resources may be depleted in individuals experiencing compromised physical health, little information is currently available about whether physical health behaviors are linked to self-harm and suicide in adolescents. A sample of 126,868 eighth-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students from the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) were categorized into NSSI groups (no NSSI, subclinical NSSI, repetitive NSSI) and suicide groups (no suicide ideation/attempt, suicide ideation, suicide attempt) from self-reports of behaviors in the last year. Variables of interest included a variety of physical health factors (e.g. sleep and exercise). Chi-square analyses were performed to examine relationships between NSSI and suicide groups and physical health factors. Significant variables were then entered simultaneously into multinomial logistic regression models. Odds-ratios were used to further assess the impact of significant variables. Preliminary analyses revealed small effect sizes for weekly physical activity, total sleep, perceived general health, and physical disabilities in NSSI groups. In addition to stronger associations with these same factors, suicide groups revealed a small effect size for weight status. Regression analyses revealed that total sleep and perceived general health were most strongly predictive of any group membership. These results implicate the value of understanding physical health in risk for adolescent NSSI and suicide.