Study Suggests Factors Linked to Teens ’ Suicide Attempts

About 12% of adolescents who had suicidal thoughts or engaged in self-harm at age 16 went on to attempt suicide by age 21, but the risk factors for transition differed from established thinking on the subject, according to a large, longitudinalstudy of adolescents inLancet Psychiatry.“Existing research suggests that many well-established risk factors for suicide (such as depression, hopelessness, and impulsivity) do not predict suicide attempts among adolescents who have suicidal thoughts or engage in nonsuicidal self-harm,” wrote Becky Mars, Ph.D., a research fellow in epid emiology in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol and an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention postdoctoral fellow, and colleagues. “Longitudinal studies investigating predictors of future suicide attempts in these high-risk groups are extremely scarce.”Researchers examined the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a population-based birth cohort study in the United Kingdom, for participants ’ answers on two self-report questionnaires on suicidal thoughts and self-harm completed at 16 and 21 years of age. At baseline, 456 adolescents reported suicidal thoughts, and 569 adolescents reported nonsuicidal self-harm. Researchers explored the associations between risk factors at baseline an d future first-time suicide attempts through age 21. (Participants who reported attempting suicide at baseline were excluded to focus on predictors of first-time ...

Source: Psychiatr News - March 18, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Tags: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Becky Mars Ph.D. self-harm suicide risk factors teen suicide attempts Source Type: research