Clinical Profiles Among Greek Adolescent Suicide Attempters

Suicide attempts are a significant public health problem among youth, resulting in a major social and economic burden for communities and a devastating impact on families.

To determine whether we can identify distinct clinical profiles using latent class analysis in a clinical sample of Greek adolescents who were admitted to hospital following a suicide attempt.

Data on 11 clinical parameters from 182 adolescents were analyzed, with a two-class solution selected as the best fitting among the one- through three-class solutions that were examined.

We observed two distinct classes, specifically in the probability of mood disorders, substance use disorders, abandonment/neglect, and displaying traits of personality disorders. While most of the adolescents who attempted suicide showed a low probability of these parameters (71.7%), about a third of the sample (28.3%) showed a much more severe clinical profile. Analyses of pertinent contextual and risk factors indicated that those with a more severe clinical profile tend to come from overall more dysfunctional family systems, have more problems in school, and have made a previous attempt.

We conclude that the adolescent suicide attempt population is a heterogeneous group in need of focused differentiated care specifically targeted to particular subgroups.