Some psychological characteristics of adolescents hospitalized following a suicide attempt.

BACKGROUND

In most countries, suicide is second or third leading cause of death in youth. Suicidal tendencies among youth have been the subject of extensive research. Reports of increased rate of suicide attempts in the past few decades indicate that this phenomenon has not been fully understood.

AIM

The aim of this study was to better understand the phenomenon of adolescent suicide behavior by defining some specific psychological characteristics of adolescents who were hospitalized at the psychiatric ward because of the suicide attempt.

METHODS

62 participants were assigned to two groups: clinical (adolescents who were hospitalized after a suicide attempt) and non-clinical (adolescents without psychiatric symptoms). They filled in a series of instruments: a questionnaire examining adolescents' demographic characteristics, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Youth Self Report.

RESULTS

Compared to the non-clinical populaton adolescents attempting suicide had significantly more frequent suicidal thoughts (χ2 = 18.627, df = 1, p < .01), higher incidence of earlier attempts (χ2 = 10.008, df = 1, p < .01), they abused substances more often (χ2 = 7.398, df=1, p < .01), had higher incidence of fathers' psychopathology (χ2 = 11.77, df = 1, p < .01), lower level of self-esteem (t = 4.23, p < .01), and more significant expression of internalized (F/1.60/ = 19.02; p < .01) as well as externalized problems (F/1.60/ = 4.41; p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study point to some of the characteristics of adolescents who were hospitalized after a suicide attempt.