Risk and protective factors for medically serious suicide attempts: a comparison of hospital-based with population-based samples of young adults.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate risk and protective factors for medically serious suicide attempts among young Australian adults.


METHODS
The study used a case-control design. A clinical sample of 18-24 year olds was recruited via the emergency department of a large public hospital following a suicide attempt (n=95) and was compared to a sample of 18-24 year olds who participated in a population-based survey (n=380).


RESULTS
Risk factors for medically serious suicide attempts included early school leaving, parental divorce (males only), distress due to problems with parents (females only), distress due to problems with friends, distress due to the break-up of a romantic relationship, tobacco use, high alcohol use, current depressive symptomatology and a previous diagnosis of depression. Protective factors included social connectedness, problem-solving confidence and locus of control. There was a trend for social connectedness to be more protective among those with high rather than low levels of depressive symptomatology, and among smokers rather than non-smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
Results are discussed in terms of designing evidence-based suicide prevention activities for young adults.
Donald
Maria
M
School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Dower
Jo
J
Correa-Velez
Ignacio
I
Jones
Mark
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011340:Problem Solving; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*