Association between aggressive and non-fatal suicidal behaviors among U.S. high school students

•This national study identifies a violence typology among US high school students: no violent behaviors, 71.6%; aggressive behavior, 15.5%; non-fatal suicidal behavior, 8.4%; and combined violent behaviors, 4.6%.•Students who exhibited combined violent behaviors were disproportionately 9th graders; non-heterosexuals, overweight/obese, victims of bullying, sexual, and dating violence, and users of alcohol and other substances.•The association between aggressive and non-fatal suicidal behaviors was moderate (odds ratio = 2.55) and could be explained by the common and specific risk factors.•Significant common risk factors included exposure to physical dating violence, being bullied on school property and/or electronically, being threatened or injured by someone with a weapon on school property, and lifetime illegal drug use and prescription opioid misuse.•Bullying and dating victimization also were significant risk factors for aggressive behavior. This finding lent support to the reports of bully-victims and reciprocal dating violence in the literature.