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Document Type

Article

Abstract

Bullying is a form of peer victimization with a well-established link to suicidality among adolescents in the United States (Holt et al. 2015). Few studies focus explicitly on examining bullying at the state-level, including South Dakota. We argue that state-level data are valuable for policymakers wishing to better understand adolescent bullying and suicidality at a local level. Using a secondary data analysis of 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from South Dakota and U.S. samples, this study provided a description of bullying victimization and suicidality in South Dakota and tested bullying victimization as a predictor of suicidality among adolescents in the state. Three key findings are worth noting: 1) South Dakota displayed significantly slightly higher bullying victimization relative to the nation, 2) bullying victimization was significantly associated with higher suicidality among South Dakota adolescents, and 3) suicidality was highest among adolescents experiencing both forms of bullying (bullied at school and cyberbullying) tested in this study. While we speculate regarding explanations of this finding (e.g., more frequent bullying, traditional / cyberbullying interactions), further research is needed to better understand how these two forms of bullying produce increased adolescent suicidality.

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