Child and Adolescent Suicide in a Large, Urban Area: Psychological, Demographic, and Situational Factors

Abstract

We examined all completed suicides by children and adolescents in Los Angeles County who died during 1996 and 1997. There were 46 subjects, aged 11 through 16. The majority of the decedents were males and over age 14. The predominant racial group was Hispanic. There was an almost even split between firearms and hanging as the means of death. Females had a statistically significantly higher rate of prior suicide attempts than males. Over one-third left a suicide note, almost one-half were noted to be depressed, and 22% tested positive for alcohol or illicit drugs. Less than one-quarter were in mental health treatment. Eighty-seven percent had difficulty transitioning to or during adolescence; e.g., problems at home, legal and school difficulties, and relationship losses. These findings are discussed in terms of Eriksonian developmental theory. We offer recommendations for intervention and prevention of suicide.

Children, adolescents and young adults suicide data from Epirus, northwestern Greece

“…Therefore, an increased trend was recorded with increasing age, as has been previously reported [1,2,5,6]. It is noteworthy that there were no deaths for children under 12 years of age, in line with other studies [3,6,[14][15][16]. The majority of the victims were males, and the male to female ratio (4.25) was significantly higher than the ratio reported for other western countries [6,[14][15][16][17].…”

Revisão de literatura sobre suicídio na infância

“…The 2000s were marked by the significant increase of works, which can be justified by the significant hike of consummated suicides in childhood 12,14,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] . They are case-control and cohort studies; international multi-center studies are developed and there is a technical rigor around the classification of deaths by suicide in children, seeking to gather and discuss aspects of bullying, depression and suicide.…”

“…Countless studies have found that almost half of the children have recently had disciplinary problems at school 4,13,19,20,[24][25]27,[29][30][31]34,35 . Among the disciplinary problems, 25.3% failed in school grades, 18.3% dropped out of school and 16.3% were suspended from school 24 .…”

“…Half of the children had a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), one-third had anti-social personality disorder, depression and, to a lesser extent, alcohol problems 4,7,12,[22][23][24][25]29,33,35 . In contrast, a high proportion of mental disorders compared to children 8 is found in other age groups.…”

“…Various researchers have shown an association between personality traits and suicide risk 20,[27][28][29]39 . Hoberman and Garfinkel 18 describes that children were more likely to be angry, nervous, anxious and impulsive before the fatal act.…”