Gender and Family Disparities in Suicide Attempt and Role of Socioeconomic, School, and Health-Related Difficulties in Early Adolescence

Abstract

Suicide attempt (SA) is common in early adolescence and the risk may differ between boys and girls in nonintact families partly because of socioeconomic, school, and health-related difficulties. This study explored the gender and family disparities and the role of these covariates. Questionnaires were completed by 1,559 middle-school adolescents from north-eastern France including sex, age, socioeconomic factors (family structure, nationality, parents' education, father's occupation, family income, and social support), grade repetition, depressive symptoms, sustained violence, sexual abuse, unhealthy behaviors (tobacco/alcohol/cannabis/hard drug use), SA, and their first occurrence over adolescent's life course. Data were analyzed using Cox regression models. SA affected 12.5% of girls and 7.2% of boys (P < 0.001). The girls living with parents divorced/separated, in reconstructed families, and with single parents had a 3-fold higher SA risk than those living in intact families. Over 63% of the risk was explained by socioeconomic, school, and health-related difficulties. No family disparities were observed among boys. Girls had a 1.74-time higher SA risk than boys, and 45% of the risk was explained by socioeconomic, school, and mental difficulties and violence. SA prevention should be performed in early adolescence and consider gender and family differences and the role of socioeconomic, school, and health-related difficulties.

Impact of sleep difficulty on single and repeated injuries in adolescents

“…But living in non-intact families favoured both school and out-of-school injuries while insufficient family income favoured repeated out-of-school injuries only. Note that these family factors are linked with sleep difficulty and various school, behaviour and health-related difficulties (Chau et al, , 2014. In our study, living with parents divorced/separated and Table 3 Factors associated with school and out-of-school single and repeated injuries (vs. none) (n = 1559): gender-age-adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence interval.…”

“…Study strengths included high participation rate (94%) and statistical approach based on that sleep difficulty and other life events had started before the injuries investigated. However, causal relationships could not be guaranteed because certain life events may be forgotten, but they were relatively recent and the adolescents affected would well remember them (Chau et al, 2014;Mayet et al, 2011). The results interpretation should be cautious as the 95% CIs of ORs were often overlapped.…”

“…For perceived income, subjects were asked whether the financial situation of their family was: coping but with difficulties/getting into debt/comfortable, well off or earning just enough; it has been used in adolescent and adult studies (Baumann et al, 2007;Chau et al, 2012Chau et al, , 2014.…”

“…Early adolescence (10-16 years) is a period of transition from the total social/economic dependence to relative independence with more contacts/exchanges with others and more access to drug use. It corresponds to the mean age of onset of sleep difficulty as well as school, behaviour and health-related difficulties (such as poor health status, poor psychological health, obesity, and drug use) (Chau et al, , 2014Dishion et al, 2010;Mayet et al, 2011;Swanh et al, 2012). The confounding role of these difficulties in the association of sleep difficulty with single and repeated school and out-of school injuries deserves to be investigated.…”

Adolescents’ Psychological Functioning And Unintentional Injuries: Motor Vehicles And Sports Accidents

“…These distinguished characteristics are very common in adolescent context and they may represent relevant injuries risk factors in this period (Chau, Kabuth & Chau, 2014). Therefore, it is not surprising that adolescents have been shown more prone to injuries than adults: they can have up to twice-higher injury risk, compared to adults, and they are frequently involved in motor vehicle and sports accidents (Ramisetty-Mikler & Almakadma, 2016).…”