Associations between smoking and alcohol drinking and suicidal behavior in Korean adolescents: Korea Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance, 2006.
OBJECTIVE
To assess any association between cigarette smoking and heavy drinking and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among boys and girls in a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents.


METHODS
The analysis was performed using data from the 2006 Korea Youth Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance study, which included a representative sample of middle and high school students in Korea. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether smoking and drinking were associated with suicidal behavior among boys and girls, controlling for demographic characteristics, perceived stress, perceived sadness/hopelessness, and chronic disease.


RESULTS
Of the 70,486 study subjects, 23.3% (19.1% of boys and 27.9% of girls) reported suicidal ideation and 5.3% (4.6% of boys and 6.1% of girls) reported having attempted suicide during the previous 12 months. Cigarette smoking and heavy drinking were found to be significantly associated with suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts among boys and girls.


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking and heavy drinking among adolescents are important factors related to suicidal ideation and attempting suicide in boys and girls. Further research is needed to clarify any causal connection between cigarette smoking and heavy drinking and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
Han
Mi Ah
MA
National Cancer Control Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Ki Soon
KS
Ryu
So Yeon
SY
Kang
Myung Geun
MG
Park
Jong
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012923:Social Class; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data