Self-Reported Psychopathology, Trauma Symptoms, and Emotion Coping Among Child Suicide Attempters and Ideators: An Exploratory Study of Young Children

Abstract

This study examined self-reported psychopathology, trauma symptoms, and emotion coping in 7 to 12 year old children with suicidal ideation and attempts. This study compared 70 psychiatric inpatient children with current suicidal ideation to 59 psychiatric inpatient children with recent suicide attempts on measures of depression, anxiety, anger, emotional intelligence, and family/contextual factors. Results revealed greater self-reported anger as well as psychological distress associated with traumatic experiences (dissociation, anger, depression), among children who attempted suicide, in addition to increased reports of special education utilization, when compared to ideators only. These relationships were not affected by age or gender. Overall, the findings suggest self-reports of younger children who attempt suicide share similarities with older children and adolescent attempters, when compared with ideators who do not attempt. Implications for assessment and treatment are discussed.

Prevalence and clinical correlates of self-harm and suicidality during admission of children in a mental health inpatient unit

“…Children's gender did not seem to be associated with reported suicidal ideation, apparently including self-harm thoughts, in the study by Fite and colleagues [50], with suicide risk in the study by Becker and colleagues [48], or with suicide attempts in the study by Bodzy and colleagues [49]. Taken together, these findings indicate that self-harm and suicidality in children up to the age of 12 requiring inpatient admission in recent years is not associated with gender which is in line with earlier studies [62,66].…”

“…Some studies have examined mixed samples of child and adolescent inpatients [18,47], or not included comparisons with children without these complaints [44]. In addition, suicidal risk seems to have incorporated self-harm thoughts and behaviors [48][49][50], or suicidality seems to have been investigated at the exclusion of self-harm [37,51]. To the best of our knowledge, there have not been any studies that explore separately both self-harm and suicidality including comparison groups in this group of children.…”

The Association Between Emotional Intelligence and Suicidal Behavior: A Systematic Review

“…The study by Bodzy et al ( 2016 ) compared a sample of hospitalized children in psychiatric settings, dividing them between those with suicidal ideation and those who had a non-fatal suicide attempt according to their hospital reports and the CASPI questionnaire, whilst their EI levels were compared by using the EQ-i: YV-S. The total score on the EQ-i: YV-S was higher in the group with only suicidal ideation than in the subsample of children with a reported history of non-fatal suicide attempts, although no subscale was an independent predictor of suicide.…”

Self-injurious behavior and related mortality in children under 10 years of age: a retrospective health record study in Brazil

“…40 There is also evidence that the development of suicidal thoughts in children is associated with specific cognitive vulnerabilities, such as a negative inferential style, a tendency toward rumination, emotional regulation issues, and the occurrence of traumas in childhood with ineffective coping resources. 41 Although this study reveals important data about SIB rates and mortality as a consequence of SIB in children under 10 years of age in Brazil for the first time, some limitations need to be noted: the study is retrospective, and the data were extracted from the official databases in Brazil. No information was available on the child's health history or aspects such as sexual abuse, neglect by parents and caregivers, or other risk factors for NSSI or SB.…”