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Nearly 20% of Utah teens in certain grades reported suicidal ideation
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Suicidal ideation and attempts are relatively common in teenagers located in Utah, with almost 20% of those in eighth, 10th and 12th grade reporting ideation and 8.2% reporting an attempt within the past year in a 2015 survey, according to research published in MMWR.
“Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among youths are important public health concerns in Utah, where the suicide rate among youths consistently exceeds the national rate and has been increasing for nearly a decade,” Marissa L. Zwald, PhD, from the Epidemic Intelligence Service and the division of health and nutritional examination surveys within the National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC, and colleagues wrote.
To assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adolescents residing within Utah, as well as to recognize protective and risk factors, the researchers conducted a cross-sectional, biennial school-based health and risk behavior survey that included students in grades six, eight, 10 and 12. The survey included students from randomly selected public and charter schools. Survey responses remained anonymous, and parental approval was needed for teens to participate in the study.
The survey had a participation rate of 64.7%, with 29,089 student responses from students in grades eight, 10 and 12 eligible for analysis. Because of missing outcome data, the researchers used a final analytic sample of 27,329 youths.
For this study, the researchers defined suicidal ideation as seriously considering suicide within the past 12 months or making a plan to attempt suicide in the past 12 months, both of which were answered either positively or negatively. Attempts at suicide were defined as any actual attempts made in the past 12 months. Students were able to choose between zero, one, two to three, four to five or six or more attempts within the survey. The researchers then categorized responses into either no attempts and one or more attempts.
Additional information was collected on risk factors for suicide, including bullying within the school setting and online within the previous year, any illegal substance or tobacco use in the past month and any psychological distress. Protective factors evaluated included perceptions of prosocial behaviors as well as support provided from the community, school, peers and the adolescent’s family.
Of the eighth, 10th and 12th graders who participated in the survey, 19.6% had reported suicidal ideation, with 8.2% reporting at least one suicide attempt within the year. Zwald and colleagues observed the highest rates of suicidal ideation and attempts in females, those between the ages of 15 and 17 years, those in grade 10, nonwhite participants, less religious students and nonmembers of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Additionally, the researchers observed that adolescents who lived within a home that had a household education attainment level less than high school were at increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempt.
Once the researchers considered demographic characteristics and other factors, Zwald and colleagues detected a higher risk of suicidal ideation in those who reported bullying on both school property (adjusted OR = 1.95; 95% CI, 1.54-2.48) and online (aOR = 1.82; 95% CI, 1.46-2.26) within the past 12 months. An additional risk of suicidal ideation was observed in students who reported illegal substance use (aOR = 1.93; 95% CI, 1.42-2.62) or tobacco use (aOR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.14-2.09) in the past month and those with moderate psychological distress (aOR = 5.67; 95% CI, 4.42-7.28).
When the characteristics of those who had reported suicide attempts were assessed, the researchers observed a greater risk for those who were bullied at school (aOR = 2.17; 95% CI, 1.59-2.96) or online (aOR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.19-2.45) or used an illegal substance (aOR = 1.90; 95% CI, 1.32-2.74) or tobacco (aOR = 1.70; 95% CI, 1.10-2.63) in the past month. Those who described moderate psychological distress (aOR = 3.80; 95% CI, 2.40-6.01) or serious psychological distress (aOR = 8.91; 95% CI, 5.75-13.80) were also at an increased risk of attempting suicide.
The most protective factor that the researchers observed was a supportive family environment, which mitigated the risk for both suicidal ideation (aOR = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.83-0.90) and attempts (aOR = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.83-0.93). Zwald and colleagues did not observe significant protection from prosocial behaviors or supportive communities, schools and peers.
“Youths with a supportive family environment had a lower risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, which has been demonstrated in previous studies related to the family environment and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, where family cohesion, positive parent-child connection, time spent together, parental supervision and high parental expectations of academics and behaviors were protective against suicidal behaviors,” the researchers wrote.
“Public health professionals in Utah who are developing and implementing youth suicide prevention interventions might consider extending initiatives to the home environment to include family members and addressing protective risk factors identified in this investigation,” Zwald and colleagues continued. – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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