title: The relationship between poor performance on attention tasks and increased suicidal ideation in adolescents.
abstract: Our goal was to examine the relationship between attention and suicidal ideation in a school-based adolescent population. This cross-sectional study involved 2,462 students from eight high schools in South Korea (1,021 males and 1,441 females, mean age 17.3 ± 0.6 years). The participants completed the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and took part in computerized attention tasks. Participants with high SSI scores (16 or higher) exhibited a higher mean number of omission errors (OEs) and commission errors (CEs) on the visual sustained attention tasks than did participants with low SSI scores (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). On the divided attention tasks, the high SSI group exhibited a higher mean number of CEs than the low SSI group did (p < 0.001). In a general linear model adjusting for age, gender, and high BDI (10 or higher), membership in the high OE group in the visual sustained attention tasks was associated with high SSI scores (p = 0.015). Belonging to the high OE or CE group in the divided attention tasks were associated with high SSI scores (p = 0.024 and p = 0.035, respectively). For both the visual sustained and divided attention tasks, interactions between gender and high OE rates were significant (p ≤ 0.001 and p = 0.013, respectively). In the post hoc analysis, membership in the high OE group was associated with high SSI scores for girls. In a multiple linear regression analysis including all participants and controlling for age, gender, and BDI scores, higher numbers of OEs and CEs on the visual sustained attention tasks predicted higher SSI scores (p < 0.001 and p = 0.019, respectively). On the divided attention task, the number of CEs was positively correlated with the SSI score (p = 0.031). The findings of this study indicate an association between attention deficits and increased suicidal ideation in adolescents after controlling for depressed mood. The current results suggest a direct link between attention deficits and increased suicidality independent of depressive symptoms in adolescents.
authors: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Seog Ju
authors: SJ
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
authors: Seung-Gul
authors: SG
authors: Kang
authors: Dr. Cho Psychiatric Clinic, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: In Hee
authors: IH
authors: Cho
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-799, Republic of Korea.
authors: Yu-Jin G
authors: YJ
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Asan Medical Center, Ulsan University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Jin Pyo
authors: JP
authors: Hong
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Juhyun
authors: J
authors: Park
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-799, Republic of Korea. ewpsyche@hanmail.net.
authors: Yu Jin
authors: YJ
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Adolescent; Attention; Suicidal ideation