Date of Award

Fall 12-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Program/Concentration

Psychology

Committee Director

Catherine R. Glenn

Committee Member

Michelle Kelley

Committee Member

James Paulson

Abstract

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are a growing public health concern among youth. Bullying victimization is a robust risk factor for STBs and identity-based bullying (IBB) or bullying that occurs due to a person’s actual or perceived social-identity/identities that is ingrained in discrimination, prejudice, or bias, has been found to be more strongly associated with STBs compared to bullying that was unrelated to identity. The current study used data from the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions (N=399,493) to examine associations between general bullying, adult-perpetrated bullying, and IBB with depression and STBs among 6th-12th grade youth. This study also examines moderating effects of ethno-racial identity, gender identity, and their intersection on bullying-STB associations. Results indicated that bullying was associated with higher levels of depression and greater odds of STBs, with moderation analyses revealing small but significant differences across identity groups. Adult-perpetrated bullying was also associated with higher levels of depression and greater odds of STBs. IBB was more strongly associated to STBs and higher depression than non-identity based bullying, and youth experiencing bullying based on multiple social identities reported especially elevated depression and STBs. Finally, school-level analyses showed greater perception of an IBB climate was associated with higher school-level rates of depression and STBs. Together, these findings provide novel evidence that different forms of bullying victimization, including IBB and adult-perpetrated bullying are associated with depression and STBs in youth, underscoring the importance of bully prevention efforts explicitly targeting identity-based and adult-perpetrated bullying in schools.

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DOI

10.25777/cx66-f470

ISBN

9798276039619

ORCID

0000-0002-6250-439X

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