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Hindi Research Article
Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Suicides: A Comparison Based on the Queensland Suicide Registry
sKairi Kõlves and Diego De Leo*
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Griffith Univeristy, Australia
- *Corresponding Author:
- Diego De Leo
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention
WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention
Griffith Univeristy, Australia
Tel: 61 7 -3735 3366
Fax: 61- 7 3735 3450
E-mail: D.DeLeo@griffith.edu.au
Received Date: Mar 25, 2015; Accepted Date: May 21, 2015; Published Date: May 28, 2015
Citation:Kairi K, De Leo D (2015) Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Suicides: A Comparison Based on the Queensland Suicide Registry. J Child Adolesc Behav 3:209. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000209
Copyright: © 2015 Kolves K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objective: The incidence of suicides increases rapidly up to the age of 20 years. Despite major developmental changes, only a limited number of studies has compared characteristics of child, adolescent and young adult suicides. The aim of the current study was to compare demographic, psychosocial and psychiatric characteristics of suicides in three youngest age groups - 10-14 years, 15-19 years and 20-24 years - in Queensland, Australia, between 2002 and 2011. Methods: The Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) contains information from a variety of sources, including: police report of death to a Coroner, post-mortem autopsy report, toxicology report and Coroner’s findings. Annual suicide rates were calculated by gender and age group. Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), Chi2 test are presented. Results: Between 2002 and 2011, there were 850 youth suicides recorded in the QSR - 43 aged 10-14 years, 295 aged 15-19 years and 512 aged 20-24 years. The proportion of males increased with age (51.2%, 69.5% and 76.6%). However, the proportion of Indigenous people decreased significantly with age (45.2%, 18.1% and 14.5%). Hanging was the most frequent suicide method for all age groups and for both genders, decreasing significantly with age for both genders. Prevalence of a diagnosed psychiatric disorder, substance use and psychiatric treatment increased with age. Evidence of untreated mental health problems was reported without significant differences between age groups. Similarly, there were no significant differences in history of previous suicide attempts and communication of suicide intent. Suicide in social group and attention to suicide in media, family conflict, school/ work-related problems and childhood trauma decreased significantly with age while relationship problems increased. Conclusion: Suicides in early adolescence were characterised by higher prevalence of family conflicts, schoolrelated problems and suicides in social groups. Suicides in young adults had significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders and were much more impacted by relationship problems. The characteristics of suicides in late adolescents fell in between the other age groups.
