Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health · Published 2026-01-01 · DOI 10.1017/gmh.2026.10231
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) living with HIV are at increased risk of developing suicidality. Yet little is known about the effects of HIV-related stigma, mental health challenges and social support on suicidality among AGYW living with HIV. We analysed cross-sectional data from 711 AGYW living with HIV who participated in two large prospective South African cohort studies, Mzantsi Wakho (2017–2018) and HEY BABY (2018–2019). Standardised and validated questionnaires were used to measure HIV-related stigma, mental health symptomology (mediator), social support (moderator) and suicidality (outcome). A moderated mediation analysis was used to investigate (1) the direct effects of HIV-related stigma on suicidality, (2) the indirect effects as mediated through mental health symptomology and (3) the moderating effects of social support on mental health issues and suicidality, adjusted for potential confounders. Higher HIV-related stigma (β = 0.45 [0.13, 0.78], p < 0.001) was directly associated with higher suicidality. Mental health symptomology was associated with increased risk of suicidality (β = 1.05 [0.66, 1.44], p < 0.001) and partially mediated the effect of HIV-related stigma on suicidality. Social support buffered the indirect effects of HIV-related stigma on suicidality (β = 0.86, bias-corrected 95% CI [0.01, 2.41]). HIV-related stigma is associated with higher suicidality. Programmes that simultaneously address stigma and strengthen social support services may improve mental health and reduce suicidality among AGYW living with HIV.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
Read the article at the publisher →