Adolescent suicide: characterizing the need and identifying the predictive factors for preventive consultation or hospitalization in a rural community setting
-
Muttathu K.C. Nair
,
Satya R. Shankar
Abstract
Background: Studies from India consistently document the highest suicide rates in the world, and the majority of completed suicides had been within adolescents.
Objective: To characterize the need and identify the predictive factors for preventive consultation or hospitalization for adolescent suicide in a community setting.
Subjects: We prospectively collected data from 500 adolescents in a rural South Indian community with independent, trained raters.
Methods: The need for suicide prevention was measured with the SAD PERSONS scale, socio-economic status with the Modified Kuppusamy Scale, depression and anxiety disorders with the Beck Depression Inventory and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, respectively. The relationship between predictors and the need for preventive action was analyzed with univariate and multivariate regression analyses and a predictive model was built.
Results: Of those investigated, 2% and 0.6% required emergency consultation and hospitalization, respectively. Males needed more preventive action (p=0.04). Age (OR=3.40, p=0.07), gender (OR=3.13, p=0.05), presence of anxiety (OR=16.35, p=0.001), or depressive (OR=42.59, p=0.001) disorder independently predicted a need for protective action and, together, contributed to a parsimonious predictive model.
Conclusions: The majority of adolescents in the community do not require preventive steps to address suicide risk. These predictors could identify the high-risk adolescents for suicide prevention and reduce the burden of care in the community.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Editorial
- The young and suicide
- Original Articles
- Risk of developing diabetes and dyslipidemia among adolescents with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia
- Health and educational performance among young migrants
- Illness appraisals and health-related quality of life in adolescents and young adults with allergies and asthma
- The levels and patterns of resilience among male street children in Dhaka City
- Screening physical examinations in 25,000 Israeli schoolchildren
- Development of adiposity, obesity and age at menarche: an 8-year follow-up study in Portuguese schoolgirls
- Healthcare utilization and barriers for youth post-detention
- Unwanted sexual experiences among adolescents: shedding light on the gray zone between consensual and non-consensual sex
- Are teenagers at risk for developing cardiovascular disease in later life?
- Adolescent suicide: characterizing the need and identifying the predictive factors for preventive consultation or hospitalization in a rural community setting
- Tattoo, piercing, and adolescent tobacco consumption
- Adolescents with diabetes: support from healthcare teams and families
- Health risk behaviors in urban and rural Guatemalan adolescents
