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Investigating Correlates of Suicide Among Male Youth: Questioning the Close Affinity Between Suicide Attempts and Deaths
Author(s) -
Feigelman William,
Joiner Thomas,
Rosen Zohn,
Silva Caroline
Publication year - 2016
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.12183
Subject(s) - suicide prevention , poison control , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , occupational safety and health , juvenile delinquency , medicine , demography , psychiatry , suicide attempt , suicide methods , psychology , clinical psychology , medical emergency , suicide rates , pathology , sociology
This study was based on a sample of male high school students who completed N ational L ongitudinal A dolescent H ealth S urveys in 1994, 1995, and 2001. We studied these students prospectively, comparing those who later died by suicide ( n = 21) with those who were still living ( n = 10,101). We employed chi‐square and analysis of variance tests for statistical significance between suicide decedents and living respondents. Results showed suicide decedents were more likely to have experienced the suicide loss of another family member, to have been expelled from school, to have engaged in more delinquent actions including fighting, and to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Although one might have expected suicide casualties to have exhibited a greater amount of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and higher incidences of suicidality among their friends, our analyses did not find that these factors were associated with actual suicides. Should these findings be replicated, this would point to a need to refine youth suicide risk assessments. Collecting life histories, as well as identifying patterns of delinquency and fighting, may serve as more potentially fruitful means for assessing genuine suicide risk than some traditional risk assessment methods.z