Teenagers suicidal behavior and psychosocial factors

Abstract

Objective:

Suicidal behavior becomes more and more actual problem in many countries. Lithuania is known as a country where suicides rate, especially among young people, is the highest in Europe.

The goal of this research was to establish the coherence between family, psychosocial characteristics and teenagers' suicide behavior.

Methods:

Two groups of teenagers from 14 to 17 were researched: the analyzed group (N=109) and the control group (N=218). To evaluate anamnesis, psychosocial factors of the researched teenagers, structural questionnaire, concluded by the authors was presented.

Seeking to establish the coherence between psychosocial factors and suicide behavior, the comparisons were made between the frequencies of this factor among 14 – 17 year old teenagers, having no suicide anamnesis and the teenagers who have tried to commit a suicide.

Results:

The data analysis proved the statistically reliable evidence that in analyzed group both male and female teenagers, who have tried to commit a suicide, live in not full families (p<0,001). The frequent behavior in such families is addiction of both or one of the parents to alcohol (p<0,001); physical punishment is not an exception (p<0,001). The teenagers who have tried to commit a suicide indicated that they more often than the teenagers in the control group fell badly or even very badly among their contemporaries (p<0,001) and most of their time they spend alone (p<0,001).

Conclusions:

According to the results, the psychosocial factors and teenagers suicidal behavior are related, but only they themself can't predeterminate the suicide.