Abstract
A thorough medical literature review of adolescent self-reported suicide attempts focused on comparing the following: (1) the prevalence of attempts in anonymous vs. face-to-face surveys; (2) the prevalence rates in the United States and Canada vs. those reported elsewhere; and (3) the prevalence of attempt findings vs. self-harm behavior in anonymous surveys. The major findings were: (1) 29 anonymous self-report questionnaire studies from nine countries revealed that a median of 7-10% of adolescent students acknowledged having made one or more suicide attempts; (2) seven structured interview studies revealed a 3-4% lifetime prevalence of attempted suicide by adolescents; (3) self-report questionnaire responses failed to reveal any overlap between deliberate self-harm behavior and suicide attempts; (4) nonanonymous studies had an unusually high rate of refusal. Thus, self-reported suicide attempts are surprisingly frequent in adolescence and are reported two to three times more often under conditions of anonymity. Furthermore, youths report self-harm behavior as distinct from suicide attempts.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 263-269 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Annals of Clinical Psychiatry |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1997 |
Keywords
- Adolescent behavior
- Attempted
- Interviews
- Questionnaires
- Self-injurious behavior
- Suicide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health