Measurement Models of Maltreatment and Associations with Suicidal Ideation Statements Made by Youth in Foster Care
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Lombera, Metzli
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- October 31, 2022
- Committee Members:
- Amy Dyanna Marshall, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Yo Jackson, Committee Member
Kristin Buss (She/Her), Program Head/Chair
Chad Edward Shenk, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Childhood maltreatment
structural equation modeling
confirmatory factor analysis
suicidal ideation - Abstract:
- Suicidal ideation is a prevalent experience starting in childhood that continues throughout development. To better understand suicidal ideation, researchers have called for an examination of factors, such as statements (e.g., “I wish I were dead”), that are indicative of suicidal ideation and the associations between the two. One factor that has been found to be associated with suicidal ideation is childhood maltreatment. Childhood maltreatment is a complex construct that consists of multiple dimensions (e.g., severity, frequency) of the exposure. To better understand youth outcomes, following maltreatment, research needs to account for the dimensions in their analyses. Extensive work has been conducted on methods to best operationalize dimensions of casefile records; however, such work has not been taken for youth self-reports. The current study took a multiverse analytic approach to operationalizing the dimensions of youth self-reported severity (i.e., max, weighted) and frequency (i.e., max, mean, summed) in a sample (N = 471) of 8 to 17-year-olds. To understand the most optimum operationalizations to use the current study examined measurement models, the models’ associations with caregiver reports of youth suicidal ideation statements, and the differential associations with the statements at the dimension level. Results indicated that dimension operationalizations varied in the best fitting models (i.e., one vs. two factors). Additionally, dimension operationalization resulted in differential associations with reports of youth suicidal ideation statements, when examined via structural equation modeling. This study highlights the importance of how researchers operationalize their data and the impact such operationalizations may have on outcomes being reported.