[Repeated suicide attempts by children and adolescents--results of a retrospective study]

Children and adolescents who had attempted suicide once are at higher risk for further suicide attempts. In order to better identify those likely to make a further suicide attempt, they were compared at the time of their first suicide attempt with those who had only attempted suicide once. The details of all children and adolescents who had attempted suicide and been treated as inpatients or outpatients in the University Hospital in Göttingen, Germany, over a 10-year period were collected by file-analysis. Sociodemographic characteristics, stresses that preceded the suicide attempts and the chosen methods of attempted suicide were ascertained. 55 male und 116 female subjects had attempted suicide once, 17 male and 79 female subjects had attempted suicide more than once. Those with repeated suicide attempts were younger at the time of their first suicide attempt at 14 years and eight months, than those who did not make a repeat attempt, at 15 years and 7 months. Male repeaters more often experienced conflicts with their parents. Female repeaters were suffering more from emotional or chronic physical diseases and more often drank alcohol in connection with their first suicide attempt. Paediatricians, who are often the first to be confronted with suicide attempts by young people, should work towards providing psychotherapeutic support especially for children and younger adolescents with the particular stresses described.