Short-term association between peer victimisation and suicidality and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence

Background: Evidence suggests that peer victimisation is related to suicidality and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, there is limited understanding of the association at the within-person level over brief periods, representing the most proximal effects of peer victimisation. Methods: Using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) we explored the within-person reciprocal associations between various forms of peer victimisation—specifically physical, verbal, social manipulation, social rebuff, attacks on property, and electronic victimisation—and both active and passive suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and NSSI in adolescents over a brief (2 week) interval. Participants included 1,769 adolescents (46.0% male, 53.9% female, aged 13 to 18), recruited from academic and vocational high schools in China, participating in 3 measurement points. Results: Results indicated reciprocal within-person associations between verbal victimisation and subsequent active suicidal ideation and vice versa. Additionally, paths were observed from property victimisation to active suicidal ideation, from active suicidal ideation to social manipulation victimisation, from NSSI to verbal and social rebuff victimisation, as well as from suicide attempts to social rebuff victimisation. After adjusting for depression, several of the observed associations remained significant, including paths from both verbal and property victimisation to active suicidal ideation, from active suicidal ideation to verbal victimisation, and from NSSI to verbal victimisation. Conclusions: These findings underscore the complex, short-term dynamics between different forms of victimisation and suicidality/NSSI, highlighting the importance of short-term monitoring and interventions that target both victimisation and suicidality and are sensitive to their short-term interrelations to improve effectiveness. The findings also suggest the need for future research with shorter timescales to capture the proximal effects of victimisation and better understand short-term predictors and fluctuations in suicidality and NSSI.