Diekstra R F, Garnefski N
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, the University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1995 Spring;25(1):36-57.
The central questions addressed in this paper are whether present generations of adolescents and adults worldwide are at greater risk of developing suicidal reactions than previous generations were and what the possible causal mechanisms involved are. On the basis of data from international and national data banks as well as an extensive review of the literature, it is concluded that a true increase in suicide mortality and morbidity has occurred over the larger part of this century among the White urban adolescent and young adult populations of North America and Europe, particularly among (young) males over the last three decades. Among the possible causal mechanisms identified are (1) the corresponding increase in the prevalence of depressive disorders; (2) the corresponding increase in the prevalence of substance (ab)use and substance abuse disorders, and a lowering of age of onset of (ab)use; (3) psychobiological changes, in particular the dramatic lowering of the age of puberty; (4) an increase in the number of social stressors with extensive consequences for youth; (5) changes in attitudes towards suicidal behaviors and the related increased availability of suicidal models.
本文所探讨的核心问题是，相较于前几代人，全球当代青少年和成年人出现自杀反应的风险是否更高，以及其中可能涉及的因果机制是什么。基于国际和国家数据库的数据以及对文献的广泛综述，得出的结论是，在本世纪的大部分时间里，北美和欧洲城市白人青少年及年轻成年人中，自杀死亡率和发病率确实有所上升，尤其是在过去三十年里（年轻）男性中。已确定的可能因果机制包括：（1）抑郁症患病率相应上升；（2）物质（滥用）及物质滥用障碍患病率相应上升，且滥用开始年龄降低；（3）心理生物学变化，特别是青春期年龄显著降低；（4）对年轻人产生广泛影响的社会压力源数量增加；（5）对自杀行为态度的变化以及相关自杀示范案例增多。
