The Associations Between Chronic Illnesses, Mental Health, and Suicidality in Adolescence

Objectives Adolescents with a chronic medical condition (CMC) are at greater risk of mental health difficulties, but demographic factors and subjective health may confound this relationship. Design Using data from a nationally representative adolescent sample from Northern Ireland ( N = 1,299), we examined whether three CMC categories were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and with suicidal thoughts or plans, and attempts. Methods Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test whether the CMC classifications explained a significant proportion of the variance across the mental health variables, while controlling for age, sex, and subjective health. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to test whether the CMC classifications were associated with suicidality. Results CMC categories explained a small but statistically significant proportion of variance in mental health. Age was associated with suicidal thoughts or plans, and suicide attempts. Subjective health emerged as the factor most strongly linked to all criterion variables except suicidality. Conclusions Subjective health may be more strongly related to adolescent mental health than previously identified. Future research could explore potential psychosocial factors associated with these CMC classifications to clarify the links between CMCs and mental health.