Ten year follow-up study of 65 suicidal adolescents

This survey studies the 10 year psychosocial outcome of 65 adolescents admitted to the Nancy Children's Hospital in 1994 after a suicide attempt.

survey conducted using a self-assessment questionnaire sent to adolescents and their parents.

The response rate was 55.4%. About seventy per cent (70.5%) of respondents stated they were happy in their affective lives 10 years after the reference attempt, almost 70% (67.6%) had a job, nearly three quarters (72.5%) considered that they were in good health and 59% felt happy. More than half (55%) had made a subsequent suicide attempt. Two patients committed suicide. The originality of this study lies in its methodology since it allows, through comparison of suicide attempters' responses with medical data, a high level of under-declaration of repeated attempts to be detected (41.2%). Statistical study of the associations between the total number of repeated suicide attempts and demographic characteristics of the initial population nonetheless evidenced that patients with a history of suicide attempts and those with a history of early repeated attempts (within three months and/or the year) were significantly more likely to repeat their attempt within ten years.

Most of the 34 patients traced seemed to have satisfactory personal and professional lives, in contrast to the high level of repeated suicide attempts. Repeated suicide attempts during adolescence appear to be one of the major risk factors in attempting suicide again within 10 years. This confirms the importance of preventive measures after a first suicide attempt.