APPROXIMATELY 20 per cent of high school students are at risk of committing suicide, a new research has shown. Following a cluster of youth suicide in 2011, the Ministry of Health conducted a research which said that Jamaica’s mid-adolescents stand at the highest risk of committing suicide.

The 2012 study, which was funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund, collected data from 3,471 grade eight, 10, 11, and 12 students across 38 randomly selected secondary schools. The findings were shared on World Suicide Prevention Day, last week, at the Hope Fellowship Church in St Andrew. “Mid-adolescence seems to be the most tumultuous years, and those [in this category] are the ones we need to target.

Thirty-five per cent (1,075 students) admitted to suicidal ideation in their lifetime, 69.9 per cent experienced the thoughts, 25 per cent think about it often,” explained Dr Judith Leiba Thomas, director of child and adolescent mental health in the health ministry. She added that students in grade 10 were most at risk, while those in grade 12 had the lowest risk.

Moreover, she said that the association, in terms of gender, showed that more females expressed lifestyle suicidal ideation and attempted suicide, but more males actually complete suicide. The study revealed that, while repeating grades and learning problems were associated with suicide risk, there was no relationship between suicide and a child’s relationship with his parents or attitude towards school and school performance.

“The parental factors are important in childhood, but by mid-adolescence other factors are taking the forefront, such as peer factors and biological factors,” said Leiba Thomas. But, in examining those who attempted suicide and turned up at hospitals, the study focused on seven hospitals over the one-year period.

The information collected by means of a data extraction sheet showed that, of 228 cases of attempted suicide captured in the seven hospitals, 137 were in the youth age group, which stops at age 24. Leiba Thomas said more females than males attempted suicide and pointed out that, of the 228 cases at hospital, 10 were wards of the state. She explained further that the main cause of attempted suicide was inter-personal conflict. “In 2011, when we developed a hotline for the cluster of suicide cases, we had lots of calls from adults trying to get help with persons in their families or extended families,” she said.

The most common method for attempted suicide was found to be overdose of medicine, but 52.2 per cent of ‘attempters’ have additional diagnoses such as mental disorders.

“At the top was major depression disorder, then adjustment disorder, and psychotic disorder,” she said. Moreover, of the 53 reported cases of suicide, 14 involved people under age 25, while 30 per cent were males.

“This supports international literature that more males complete suicide. Of the sample, 27 per cent had no medical illness, while 30 per cent of the ‘completers’ had other issues,” Leiba Thomas emphasised. The findings also revealed that in suicides where there was an association with drug abuse, the most common methods were found to be hanging and poisoning. The study also found intimate relationships to be among the main causes of suicide and, according to Leiba Thomas, suicide occurred directly after an argument or confrontation with a family member or consort.

“The objectives were to ascertain the prevalence of suicidal behaviour and to determine the risk factors. It was a cross-sectional study and we actually piggybacked on a study that was done by the National Council on Drug Abuse. We added questions that were related to suicidal behaviour to their survey instrument,” she said.