Bullying Victimization, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicide Among U.S. High School Adolescents: Protective Effects of School Connectedness and Parental Monitoring.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) among U.S. adolescents remain a public health concern and are closely linked to bullying victimization and depressive symptoms. While protective factors such as school connectedness and parental monitoring may buffer these risks, their roles within integrated explanatory and predictive models remain insufficiently understood. Using data from the 2021 and 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (N = 37,335), this study examined how school connectedness and parental monitoring buffer the effects of bullying victimization and STBs among U.S. high school adolescents. Logistic regression showed that higher levels of school connectedness and parental monitoring were associated with lower odds of STBs, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, bullying victimization, depressive symptoms, and survey year. In contrast, girls, sexual minority adolescents, and those who experienced bullying had higher odds of STBs than their counterparts. Moderated mediation analyses showed that depressive symptoms partially mediated or transmitted the effects of bullying victimization on STBs. School connectedness and parental monitoring partially buffered the direct effects of bullying victimization on STBs. Machine learning models demonstrated acceptable predictive performance and identified depressive symptoms, sexual identity, and cyberbullying victimization as the most influential predictors. These findings underscore the importance of gender-sensitive, school- and family-based prevention strategies to reduce suicide risk among U.S. high school adolescents.