Premium
Adolescent Suicidal Trajectories through Young Adulthood: Prospective Assessment of Religiosity and Psychosocial Factors among a Population‐Based Sample in the United States
Author(s) -
NkansahAmankra Stephen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12029
Subject(s) - religiosity , suicidal ideation , psychology , psychosocial , young adult , suicide prevention , adolescent suicide , population , clinical psychology , psychological intervention , poison control , early adulthood , injury prevention , developmental psychology , demography , psychiatry , medicine , social psychology , medical emergency , sociology
The main objective was to identify distinct patterns of suicidal behaviors over the life course from adolescence to young adulthood and to determine influences of religiosity and other contextual factors on subgroup membership. Semiparametric growth mixture models were used to identify distinct clusters of suicide ideation and suicide attempt trajectories, and generalized estimating equations were used to assess individual and contextual characteristics predicting suicidal behaviors in adolescence and in young adulthood. Distinct trajectories of suicide ideation and suicide attempt were identified for the total sample and for the gender groups. Results showed marked gender differences in the trajectory of suicide ideation and attempt patterns. Religiosity effects on suicidality were prominent in adolescence but not in young adulthood. Analysis showed that an important window of opportunity for preventing the escalation of suicidality exists during the early adolescent period, an opportunity that should be emphasized in interventions on adolescence suicide prevention.