Version 1
: Received: 13 July 2020 / Approved: 14 July 2020 / Online: 14 July 2020 (11:34:21 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 30 November 2020 / Approved: 1 December 2020 / Online: 1 December 2020 (09:49:11 CET)
Kinciniene, O.; Sambaras, R.; Lesinskaite, A.; Zilinskaite, V.; Lesinskiene, S. Psychosocial Aspects of Deliberate Physical Suicide Attempts by Children and Adolescents. Clinical Pediatrics 2023, 000992282211451, doi:10.1177/00099228221145106.
Kinciniene, O.; Sambaras, R.; Lesinskaite, A.; Zilinskaite, V.; Lesinskiene, S. Psychosocial Aspects of Deliberate Physical Suicide Attempts by Children and Adolescents. Clinical Pediatrics 2023, 000992282211451, doi:10.1177/00099228221145106.
Kinciniene, O.; Sambaras, R.; Lesinskaite, A.; Zilinskaite, V.; Lesinskiene, S. Psychosocial Aspects of Deliberate Physical Suicide Attempts by Children and Adolescents. Clinical Pediatrics 2023, 000992282211451, doi:10.1177/00099228221145106.
Kinciniene, O.; Sambaras, R.; Lesinskaite, A.; Zilinskaite, V.; Lesinskiene, S. Psychosocial Aspects of Deliberate Physical Suicide Attempts by Children and Adolescents. Clinical Pediatrics 2023, 000992282211451, doi:10.1177/00099228221145106.
Abstract
Background and objectives: Suicide is a topical issue in Lithuania and all around the world. It is the second most common cause of death among young people. There is a lack of research studies on the psychosocial aspects of adolescent suicide in Lithuania. This study aimed to evaluate demographics, life circumstances, and health conditions as factors related to suicide attempt in adolescents. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed at the Children’s Hospital (Vilnius University Santara Clinics). Medical documentation of adolescents treated in this hospital after suicide attempts from January 2011 to April 2018 were analyzed. Results: There were 117 cases of hospitalization due to suicide attempts during this period, and 102 cases were included in the study. There were 83.8% female and 16.2% male patients with an average age of 15.02 ± 1.9 years (p = 0.405); 40.6% of patients lived in divorced families, 17.7% lived in orphanages, 4.2% lived in foster care, 36.4% suffered from parental alcoholism, and 17.2% experienced suicide in their close surroundings. They had comorbidities (girls 72.5%, boys 68.8%), mostly depression (31.3%), were suffering from bullying (54.1%) or violence (26.0%), and 85.4% showed signs of other types of self-harm (girls more often (p < 0.001)). Most of them chose to cut for suicide attempts (86.0% girls, 56.2% boys). In 52.8% of cases, the attempt was spontaneous and 34% relapsed. Thirty-four events occurred in March (18.9%) (p = 0.688). Conclusions: Our study revealed the possible circumstances related to adolescent suicide attempt. Female gender was more common overall and males were more likely to carry out more potentially lethal methods. Other common associated factors were a lack of prosperity in family life, experience of bullying, violence, comorbidities, and the early spring period. Signs of any self-harm could be an indicator of later suicide attempt.
Keywords
physical suicide attempt; self-harm; health condition; bullying; violence; adolescent
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Immunology and Allergy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Commenter: Odeta Kinčinienė
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author