Original article
Examining Gender Differences in Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts Made 1 and 7 Years Later in a Nationally Representative Sample

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.07.018Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

This study examined the prospective risk factors for making a nonfatal suicide attempt and whether they varied by gender.

Methods

We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. A nationally representative sample of 10,828 youth was assessed over three different time points spanning 7 years. We conducted multivariable logistic regression to examine the main and interactive effects on the odds of making a suicide attempt 1 and 7 years later.

Results

Regardless of an individual's gender, multivariable analyses indicated unique risk factors including suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, a friend's past history of attempted and completed suicide, and a family member's past history of attempted suicide that were significantly associated with increased odds of suicide attempts made 1 and 7 years later. Parental loss predicted likelihood of suicide attempt 1 year later but not 7 years later. Moderational analyses indicated that gender did not interact with most of the risk factors. However, post hoc probing of two significant interaction terms indicated that young age was a risk factor for making a nonfatal suicide attempt 1 year later for females but not for males, and that females with high somatic symptoms had a greater risk for making a nonfatal suicide attempt as compared with those with low somatic symptoms and with males with low or high somatic symptoms.

Conclusion

These results indicate similar risk factors for nonfatal suicide attempts among males and females. However, younger age and somatic symptoms were reported to be risk factors for females but not for males, suggesting the need for targeted interventions with young females with somatic complaints.

Section snippets

Sample and procedures

We used data from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health [32]. The survey used a multistage stratified cluster design to sample public and private high schools in the United States. Criteria for a high school's eligibility included having a minimum of 30 students and an 11th grade. Of the 26,666 eligible high schools, a stratified random sample of 80 high schools was selected. Schools were stratified by region, urbanicity, type of school, and percentage of white students. For each

Wave 2

Results from the bivariate models indicated that most of the individual-level risk factors were significantly related to suicide attempt status 1 year later (Table 2). Specifically, being female, younger age, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, somatic symptoms, physical disability, lower self-esteem, alcohol misuse, marijuana use, and delinquency were associated with increased odds of an adolescent making a suicide attempt one year later. Among the relationship-level risk factors, having a

Conclusion

Study findings corroborate with much of the previously conducted research in showing that the odds of attempting suicide are increased in the presence of certain individual, relationship, and environmental risk factors. Our results contribute to the published literature by elucidating factors that prospectively predict suicidal behavior both 1 and 7 years later and by accounting for potentially confounding variables. In addition, using data from a nationally representative sample we were able

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, awarded to the first author. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara

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