Network analysis of childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation in Peruvian adolescents

Introduction: Child abuse is considered an important public health problem due to its detrimental impact on physical and psychological health in adolescents. Exposure to various types of abuse can lead to other psychological problems, including suicidal ideation, which is necessary to identify which type of maltreatment evidence more association. Objective: To analyze the association between child abuse and suicidal ideation in Peruvian adolescents from general population. Methods: Cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. A total of 1 379 Peruvian adolescents participated, answered instruments about child abuse and suicidal ideation. A Gaussian network model was estimated, calculating its global and local properties. In addition, for the comparison of groups, structure invariance, global strength and edges were performed. Results: Emotional abuse present stronger partnership with suicidal ideation and physical abuse. In addition, suicidal ideation was directly associated with sexual abuse and to a lesser extent with physical abuse. The greatest centrality in the network was for emotional abuse and suicidal ideation. For both men and women, emotional abuse was the node with the highest centrality, although the difference arises in women with the presence of suicidal ideation and in men with physical abuse. Conclusions: The results confirm the importance of assessing the various types of child abuse in adolescents in general population, although the assessment of emotional abuse is specifically highlighted due to its strong association with suicidal ideation, regardless of whether if they are male or female.