Suicidal ideation, anxiety and insomnia: a mediation analysis in adolescents

Suicidal ideation problems during adolescence have been linked to an increased risk of insomnia symptoms, but little research has examined the factors that may explain this association. The current study aims to determine the mediating role of anxiety in the relationship between suicidal ideation and insomnia in Peruvian adolescents from the general population. The research proposes an associative strategy of explanatory design with latent variables, with a quantitative and transversal approach, based on a model of structural equations. 237 adolescents participated (57.4% were women, ME age = 14 years old, SD = 1.51) from two public educational institutions that voluntarily responded to the Inventory of Frequency of Suicidal Ideation (IFIS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) and the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). The results of the mediation model demonstrated that anxiety plays a partial mediating role between suicidal ideation and insomnia. Consequently, anxiety symptoms may be the main target in psychological therapy to reduce the severity of suicidal ideation and insomnia symptoms in Peruvian adolescents from the general population.