title: Self-reported suicide attempts by adolescents.
abstract: A thorough medical literature review of adolescent self-reported suicide attempts focused on comparing the following: (1) the prevalence of attempts in anonymous vs. face-to-face surveys; (2) the prevalence rates in the United States and Canada vs. those reported elsewhere; and (3) the prevalence of attempt findings vs. self-harm behavior in anonymous surveys. The major findings were: (1) 29 anonymous self-report questionnaire studies from nine countries revealed that a median of 7-10% of adolescent students acknowledged having made one or more suicide attempts; (2) seven structured interview studies revealed a 3-4% lifetime prevalence of attempted suicide by adolescents; (3) self-report questionnaire responses failed to reveal any overlap between deliberate self-harm behavior and suicide attempts; (4) nonanonymous studies had an unusually high rate of refusal. Thus, self-reported suicide attempts are surprisingly frequent in adolescence and are reported two to three times more often under conditions of anonymity. Furthermore, youths report self-harm behavior as distinct from suicide attempts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Safer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015982:Bias; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012650:Self Disclosure; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology