TPC-Journal-V6-Issue1

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 1 66 correlations of r = .241 and .218 respectively. Therefore, in the 2013 data set, there was indication that as the attempts increased the participant was more likely to state that they had seriously considered suicide or made a plan in the past year. However, the correlation was low, accounting for only 24 and 22% of participants who stated they had attempted four or more times in a year, a similarity with all other years included in this analysis. Thus, the fact that the majority of those who indicated they attempted suicide four or more times did not indicate they had made plans to commit suicide or had even thought about it seriously points toward an indication that the item also may be measuring NSSI rather than just suicide attempts. With regard to the demographic variables, gender, ethnicity and depression were all coded dichotomously. Variables were created as described in order to complete a binary logistic regression. This analysis was chosen in order to evaluate the odds that a certain behavior would yield results with regard to the predictor variables used. Of those demographic variables included in the study and coded dichotomously from 2005, 60% identified as Caucasian and 37% identified as being from a marginalized or underrepresented group (e.g., Black/African American, Hispanic, multiple heritage). The remainder did not identify their ethnicity. With regard to gender or biological sex, 49% of the sample indicated they were female while 50% of the sample indicated they were male. The remainder did not respond to the item for male or female identification. Concerning age, 37% of the sample indicated they were 15 or younger and 63% of the sample was older than 15. All of the participants sampled were in grades 9–12. Demographic statistics were similar across each year of analysis. Results Separate analyses were conducted for each year of the YRBS included in this review. Trends were assessed and will be discussed following the presentation of results. Binary logistic regressions were completed to determine predictors for both possible non-suicidal self-injurious behavior and potentially self-injurious aggressive behaviors. Categorical contrast baselines were set for: Caucasian, male, age less than 15, reports of no feelings of hopelessness, and no self-injurious aggression. YRBS 2005 Analysis Using self-injurious behavior as an outcome variable and gender, age, ethnicity, extreme aggression and depression as covariates predictor variables, a binary logistic regression was completed on the available data set to analyze the goodness of fit. The result was Nagelkerke R 2 = .240 which indicated that the variables included in the model accounted for 24% of the variance. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test used for the logistic regression was not significant (χ 2 = 10.16, p = .180), indicating that the predicted probabilities match the observed probabilities. These results show a probability that it is three times more likely that those engaging in extreme self-injurious aggression also will engage in self-injurious behaviors and 11 times more likely for those who are depressed to engage in self-injurious behaviors controlling for all other predictor variables (see Table 1). Age and race did not seem to play a significant role in predicting self-injurious behavior, as both age groups (early adolescents and late adolescents) were just as likely to engage in self-injury. In addition, those from different ethnic backgrounds were just as likely to engage in self-injury when controlling for all other factors. Males were half as likely as females to engage in self-injury. However, males were three times as likely to engage in extreme aggression while those who were reportedly depressed were twice as likely to engage in possible self-injurious aggressive behavior (see Table 2).