Introduction
Methods
Participants and procedures
Measures
Demographic variables
Suicide attempts
Temperament
Subscale | Temperament Definition |
---|---|
Activity Level (General) | Assesses the extent of motor activity in the adolescent |
Activity Level (Sleep) | Assesses the extent of motor activity during sleep |
Rhythmicity (Sleep) | Assesses the regularity of the adolescent’s sleep-wake cycle |
Rhythmicity (Eating) | Assesses the regularity of the adolescent’s eating habits (e.g. quantity of food) |
Rhythmicity (Daily Habits) | Assesses the regularity of the adolescent’s daily routines (e.g., bowel movements, hunger). |
Mood | High scores reflect a higher predisposition of positive affect (e.g., smiling and cheerful behaviours); Low scores reflect inherently anxious, depressive, and irritable behaviours. |
Approach/Withdrawal | Assesses the adolescent’s comfort or hesitancy in approaching novel situations. |
Flexibility/Rigidity | Assesses the adolescent’s adaptability to changes in his/her environment(s) |
Task Orientation | Assesses the adolescent’s persistence or distractibility on a single task |
Psychiatric disorders
Stressful life events
Parental rejection
Data analysis
Results
Preliminary analyses
Risk factors of adolescent SAs
Suicide Attempters (N = 60) | Non-Suicide Attempters (N = 58) |
p
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean |
SD
| Mean |
SD
| |||
Age | 16.40 | 2.00 | 16.0 | 1.68 | 0.121 | |
ASQ (Total) | 145.40 | 39.09 | 108.59 | 30.56 |
< 0.001
| |
Home Life | 28.53 | 9.38 | 20.14 | 8.52 |
< 0.001
| |
School Performance | 20.92 | 7.24 | 18.21 | 5.31 |
< 0.05
| |
School Attendance | 7.97 | 3.73 | 5.74 | 2.65 |
< 0.001
| |
Romance | 12.43 | 6.36 | 7.28 | 4.06 |
< 0.001
| |
Peer Pressure | 19.97 | 7.18 | 13.7 | 5.44 |
< 0.001
| |
Teacher Interaction | 14.57 | 6.57 | 11.02 | 3.67 |
< 0.001
| |
Future Uncertainty | 10.72 | 3.10 | 8.57 | 2.95 |
< 0.001
| |
Social Conflict | 13.52 | 5.37 | 11.16 | 4.58 |
< 0.01
| |
Finance Pressure | 10.72 | 4.49 | 7.59 | 3.47 |
< 0.001
| |
Adult Responsibility | 6.07 | 2.83 | 5.19 | 2.24 |
< 0.05
| |
PARQ (Father) | 138.52 | 35.71 | 118.96 | 38.99 |
< 0.01
| |
PARQ (Mother) | 120.73 | 37.37 | 96.6 | 25.85 |
< 0.001
| |
N | % | N | % |
p
| ||
Sex | 0.605 | |||||
Male | 17 | 28.3 | 14 | 24.1 | ||
Female | 43 | 71.7 | 44 | 75.9 | ||
Ethnicity | 0.942 | |||||
Chinese | 29 | 48.3 | 31 | 53.4 | ||
Malay | 13 | 21.7 | 11 | 19.0 | ||
Indian | 15 | 25.0 | 14 | 24.1 | ||
Others | 3 | 5.1 | 2 | 3.4 | ||
Religion | 0.278 | |||||
Buddhist/Taoist | 6 | 10.0 | 11 | 19.0 | ||
Muslim | 16 | 26.7 | 15 | 25.9 | ||
Christian | 12 | 20.0 | 10 | 17.2 | ||
Hindu/Sikh | 11 | 18.3 | 13 | 22.4 | ||
No Religion | 15 | 16.7 | 9 | 15.5 | ||
Education level | 0.670 | |||||
High School | 44 | 73.3 | 41 | 70.7 | ||
Diploma/Community College | 16 | 26.7 | 17 | 29.3 | ||
Housing Type | 0.101 | |||||
1–2 room(s) | 4 | 6.7 | 1 | 1.7 | ||
3 rooms | 11 | 18.3 | 8 | 13.8 | ||
4–5 rooms | 40 | 66.6 | 35 | 60.3 | ||
Private Housing | 5 | 8.3 | 14 | 24.1 | ||
Met Diagnostic Criteria for any Disorders | 53 | 88.3 | 22 | 37.9 |
< 0.001
| |
Major Depressive Disorder | 35 | 58.3 | 5 | 8.6 |
< 0.001
| |
Substance Use | 10 | 16.7 | 2 | 3.4 |
< 0.05
| |
Bulimia Nervosa | 19 | 31.7 | 1 | 1.7 |
< 0.001
| |
Generalised Anxiety Disorder | 36 | 60.0 | 9 | 15.5 |
< 0.001
| |
Schizophrenia | 15 | 25.0 | 1 | 1.7 |
< 0.001
| |
Dysthymia | 44 | 73.3 | 9 | 15.5 |
< 0.001
| |
Bipolar Disorder | 11 | 18.3 | 6 | 10.3 | 0.217 | |
Anorexia Nervosa | 17 | 28.3 | 2 | 3.4 |
< 0.001
| |
MDD Comorbidity | 35 | 58.3 | 4 | 6.9 |
< 0.001
|
Suicide Attempters (N = 60) | Non-Suicide Attempters (N = 58) |
p
| |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean |
SD
| Mean |
SD
| ||
Activity Level (General) | 21.45 | 4.26 | 20.09 | 4.81 |
0.050
|
Activity Level (Sleep) | 10.65 | 2.97 | 10.45 | 3.37 | 0.365 |
Rhythmicity (Sleep) | 11.28 | 3.37 | 13.40 | 4.30 |
< 0.01
|
Rhythmicity (Eating) | 10.07 | 3.26 | 11.36 | 4.05 |
< 0.05
|
Rhythmicity (Daily Habits) | 10.05 | 2.63 | 10.50 | 2.74 | 0.182 |
Mood | 19.23 | 5.90 | 23.76 | 3.94 |
< 0.001
|
Flexibility/Rigidity (Adaptability) | 12.13 | 2.73 | 14.19 | 3.08 |
< 0.001
|
Approach/Withdrawal | 17.18 | 3.76 | 18.91 | 3.26 |
< 0.01
|
Task Orientation | 18.55 | 4.54 | 19.6 | 3.78 | 0.167 |
Odds ratios for adolescent suicide attempts
Temperament | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
β | OR (95% Cl) | β | OR (95% Cl) | β | OR (95% Cl) | β | OR (95% Cl) | |
Activity Level General | 0.149 | 1.16* (1.03–1.32) | 0.147 | 1.16* (1.02–1.32) | 0.123 | 1.13 (0.987 − 1.30) | 0.070 | 1.07 (0.928 − 1.24) |
Approach/Withdrawal | − 0.065 | 0.937 (0.799 − 1.10) | − 0.100 | 0.905 (0.761 − 1.08) | − 0.095 | 0.909 (0.760 − 1.09) | − 0.051 | 0.951 (0.780 − 1.16) |
Flexibility/Rigidity | − 0.142 | 0.867 (0.717 − 1.05) | − 0.113 | 0.893 (0.733 − 1.09) | − 0.006 | 0.994 (0.795 − 1.24) | − 0.055 | 0.946 (0.743 − 1.20) |
Mood | − 0.201 | 0.818*** (0.727 − 0.921) | − 0.182 | 0.833** (0.740 − 0.939) | − 0.183 | 0.833** (0.736 − 0.942) | − 0.128 | 0.880* (0.773 − 0.998) |
Rhythmicity Sleep | − 0.171 | 0.843* (0.710 − 0.973) | − 0.140 | 0.870 (0.727 − 1.04) | − 0.095 | 0.909 (0.757 − 1.09) | − 0.108 | 0.898 (0.735 − 1.10) |
Rhythmicity Eating | − 0.002 | 0.998 (0.858 − 1.16) | − 0.041 | 1.04 (0.886 − 1.23) | − 0.060 | 1.06 (0.898 − 1.26) | − 0.075 | 1.08 (0.904 − 1.29) |
Flexibility/Rigidity x Mood | − 0.059 | 0.943** (0.900 − 0.987) | − 0.054 | 0.948* (0.902 − 0.996) | − 0.053 | 0.949* (0.902 − 0.996) | − 0.046 | 0.955* (0.904 − 0.989) |
PARQ (Father) | -- | -- | 0.006 | 1.01 (0.991 − 1.02) | 0.002 | 1.00 (0.986 − 1.02) | 0.005 | 1.01 (0.987 − 1.02) |
PARQ (Mother) | -- | -- | 0.017 | 1.02* (0.980 − 0.996) | 0.013 | 1.01 (0.994 − 1.03) | 0.002 | 1.00 (0.981 − 1.02) |
ASQ | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.019 | 1.02* (1.01–1.04) | 0.019 | 1.02* (1.01–1.04) |
MDD Comorbidity | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.37 | 10.7** (2.24–51.39) |