ARTICLES
Suicidal Attempts among Older Adolescents: Prevalence and Co-occurrence with Psychiatric Disorders

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199207000-00012Get rights and content

Abstract

The prevalence of suicidal attempts and ideation and the co-occurrence of attempts with psychiatric disorders were examined in a community sample of 1710 older adolescents. Structured interviews using rigorous diagnostic criteria were conducted in two annual assessments. Lifetime prevalence of attempts was 7.1% and ideation was 21.1%. Almost 90% of those who attempted also evidenced suicidal ideation. Suicide attempts occurred in conjunction with depressive, substance use, and disruptive behavior disorders but not with panic disorders. Results indicate that risk factors for an attempt are the following: being female, from a home without a father, poor education of the father, previous attempts, suicidal ideation, and mental disorders.

REFERENCES (49)

  • D.A. Brent

    Correlates of medical lethality of suicide attempts in children and adolescents

    J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry

    (1987)
  • R.B. Cairns et al.

    Suicidal behavior in aggressive adolescents

    J. Clin. Child Psychol.

    (1988)
  • W.J. Chambers et al.

    The assessment of affective disorders in children and adolescents by semi-structured interview: test-retest reliability of the K-SADS-P

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1985)
  • E.Y. Deykin et al.

    Non-fatal suicidal and life-threatening behavior among 13–17 year old adolescents seeking emergency medical care

    Am. J. Public Health

    (1985)
  • E.F. Dubow et al.

    J. Clin. Child Psychol.

    (1989)
  • R.C. Fowler et al.

    San Diego suicide study: II. Substance abuse in young cases

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1986)
  • G.D. Gammon et al.

    Adolescent suicide: epidemiology, research and prevention

  • B. Garfinkel et al.

    Suicide attempts in children and adolescents

    Am. J. of Psychiatry

    (1982)
  • C.Z. Garrison et al.

    Suicidal behaviors in young adolescents

    Am. J. Epidemiol.

    (1991)
  • R. Goldney et al.

    Depression in young women who have attempted suicide

    Aust. N.Z. J. Psychiatry

    (1980)
  • J.M.H. Harkavy Friedman et al.

    Prevalence of specific suicidal behaviors in a high school sample

    Am. J. Psychiatry

    (1987)
  • R.T. Joffe et al.

    Ontario Child Health Study: suicidal behavior in youth age 12–16 years

    Am. J. Psychiatry

    (1988)
  • J. Johnson et al.

    Panic Disorder, comorbidity and suicide attempts

    Arch. Gen. Psychiatry

    (1990)
  • D. Kandel

    Substance use, depressive mood, and suicidal ideation in adolescence and young adulthood

  • Cited by (353)

    • The relations between childhood maltreatment, shame, guilt, depression and suicidal ideation in inpatient adolescents

      2020, Journal of Affective Disorders
      Citation Excerpt :

      Suicidal ideation in adolescents is a risk factor for suicidal death (Andrews and Lewinsohn, 1992; Van Orden et al., 2010) and for a variety of self-destructive behaviors (Han et al., 2015), and thus a serious social and clinical problem (Joffe et al., 2014; Shaffer and Pfeffer, 2001).

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This work has been supported in part by research grant MH40501 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the second author. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions made to the preparation of this manuscript by Keith Smolkowski, John Seeley, and Debbie Blanchard.

    View full text