Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T19:35:19.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicidal behaviours in vulnerable adolescents

Time trends and their correlates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Eric Fombonne
Eric Fombonne*
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, Denmark Hill, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF. Tel: 0171-919-3474; Fax: 0171-708-5800; e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Suicide rates have increased over the past three decades, especially in young men. Depression, conduct disorder, crime and substance misuse have also increased. This study tested hypotheses on the possible links between the secular increase in the rates of these behaviours.

Method

A data set on 6091 subjects aged 8–18 years (58.4% boys) referred to psychiatric services over & 21-year period (1970–1990) was used. & detailed analysis of & random sample of 80 case notes was conducted.

Results

Suicidal behaviours increased significantly among pubertal male adolescents only (n=1313). In this sub-sample, substance misuse accounted for the increase over time. The rates of both suicidal behaviours and of substance misuse almost doubled between 1979 and 1990 in this patient group. The case note analysis showed that solvent and alcohol misuse had also increased over the study period. Moreover, among the subjects misusing substances, alcohol was the only substance with & strong and positive association with suicidal behaviours. Substance misuse pre-dated suicidal behaviours in most patients.

Conclusions

A link has been found between the increase over time of suicidal behaviours in adolescent boys and & contemporaneous increase in substance misuse. The strength and direction of the association suggests that alcohol misuse is the causal factor.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 173 , Issue 2 , August 1998 , pp. 154 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asberg, M., Thoren, P., Traskman, L., et al (1976) Serotonin depression: a biochemical subgroup within the affective disorders? Science. 191, 478–480.Google Scholar
Beautrais, A. L., Joyce, P. R. & Mulder, R. T. (1996a) Risk factors for serious suicide attempts among youths aged 13 through 24 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1174–1182.Google Scholar
Beautrais, A. L., Joyce, P. R. & Mulder, R. T. et al (1966) Prevalence and comorbidity of mental disorders in persons making serious suicide attempts: & case-control study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 1009–1014.Google Scholar
Black, D. W., Warrack, G. & Winokur, G. (1915) The Iowa record-linkage study. I. Suicides and accidental deaths among psychiatric patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 71–75.Google Scholar
Brent, D. A., Perper, J. A. & Allman, C. J. (1987) Alcohol, firearms, and suicide among youth: Temporal trends in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. 1960 to 1983. Journal of the American Medical Association, 257, 3369–3372.Google Scholar
Brent, D. A., Perper, J. A. Moritz, G., et al (1993) Psychiatric risk factors for adolescent suicide: case-control study. Journal of the American Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 521–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, G. A., Rich, C. L., Grayson, P., et al (1991) Secular trends in psychiatric diagnoses of suicide victims. Journal of Affective Disorders. 21, 127–132.Google Scholar
Conwell, Y., Duberstein, P. R., Cox, C., et al (1996) Relationships of age and axis I diagnoses in victims of completed suicides: & psychological autopsy study. American Journal of Psychiatry. 153, 1001–1008.Google ScholarPubMed
Deykin, E. Y. & Buka, S. L. (1994) Suicidal ideation and attempts among chemically dependent adolescents. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 634–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diekstra, R. (1993) The epidemiology of suicide and parasuicide. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplementum, 371, 9–20.Google Scholar
Fergusson, D. M. & Lynskey, M. T. (1995) Suicide attempts and suicidal Ideation in & birth cohort of 16-year-old New Zealanders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1308–1317.Google Scholar
Fombonne, E. (1998) Increased rates of psychosocial disorders in youth. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 248, 14–24.Google Scholar
Fowier, R. C., Rich, C. L. & Young, D. (1986) San Diego suicide study. II: Substance use in young cases. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 962–965.Google Scholar
Garrison, C. Z., McKaown, R. E., Vaiois, R. F., et al (1993) Aggression, substance use, and suicidal behaviors in high school students. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 179–184.Google Scholar
Gruenewald, P. J., Ponicld, W. R. & Mitchell, P. R. (1995) Suicide rates and alcohol consumption in the United States, 1970–89. Addiction, 90, 1063–1075.Google Scholar
Hawton, K., Fagg, J. & McKaown, S. P. (1989) Alcoholism, alcohol and attempted suicide. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 24, 3–9.Google Scholar
Hawton, K., Fagg, J., Platt, S., et al (1993) Factors associated with suicide after parasuicide in young people. British Medical Journal, 306, 1641–1644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hosmar, D. W. & Lemeshow, S. (1989) Applied Logistic Regression. New York: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Hughes, K., Mackintosh, A. M., Hastings, G., et al (1997) Young people, alcohol, and designer drinks: quantitative and qualitative analysis. British Medical Journal. 314, 414–418.Google Scholar
Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M. & Bachman, J. G. (1995) National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975–1994. Volume I: Secondary School Students. NIDA-NIH Publication 95–4026. Washington, DC: US DHHS.Google Scholar
McClure, G. M. G. (1994) Suicide in children and adolescents in England and Wales 1960–1990. British Journal of Psychiatry. 165, 510–514.Google Scholar
Mäkelä, P. (1996) Alcohol consumption and suicide mortality by age among Finnish men, 1950–1991. Addiction, 91, 101–112.Google Scholar
Marttunen, M. J., Aro, H. M., Henrlksson, M. M., et al (1991) Mental disorders in adolescent suicide: DSM–III–R axes I and II diagnoses in suicides among 13- to 19-year-olds in Finland. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 834–839.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nawcombe, R., Measham, F. & Parker, H. (1994) A survey of drinking and deviant behaviour among 14/15-year-olds in North-West England. Addiction Research. 2, 319–341.Google Scholar
Pandey, G. N., Pandey, S. C., Dwivedi, Y., et al (1995) Platelet serotonin-2A receptors: & potential biological marker for suicidal behavior. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 850–855.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Smith, D. (1995) Psychosocial Disorders in Young People: Time Trends and Their Causes. Chichester: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Sellers, E. M., Higgins, G. A. & Sobell, M. B. (1992) 5-HT and alcohol abuse. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, 13, 69–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaffer, D., Gould, M. S., Fisher, P., et al (1996) Psychiatric diagnosis in child and adolescent suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 339–348.Google Scholar
Suominen, K., Henriksson, M., Suokas, J., et al (1996) Mental disorders and comorbidity in attempted suicide. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 94, 234–240.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: & Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.