Suicide attempt in teenagers: Associated factors

Attempted suicide is the main risk factor for completed suicides.

To analyze the prevalen ce of attempted suicide in junior high school and high school students in Mexico City, and its asso ciated factors.

Observational, cross-sectional and descriptive study conducted with data from the Mexico National Survey on Drug Use Among Students (ENCODE) 2012. The validated survey was anonymous, structured and self-applied, and contains seven sections: Sociode mographic; Tobacco, alcohol and drug use; Problems related to drug use; Antisocial behavior; Social sphere; Interpersonal sphere and Personal sphere. Family atmosphere, communication with parents, and self-esteem indexes were created using principal component analysis. A binomial logistic regres sion model was adjusted, and the odds ratio (OR) were analyzed.

The estimated prevalence of attempted suicide was 6.8%. The factors that increased the attempted suicide possibility were: being a woman (OR 3.1), be under 16 years old (OR 1.6), living in an unfavorable family atmosphere (OR 1.5) or having a poor communication with parents (OR 1.8), having low self-esteem (OR 1.9), behavioral or learning problems (OR 1.4) or suffering a mental illness (OR 3.6); having been forced into sexual contact (OR 2.6); or drugs use, smoking or alcohol consumption (OR 1.7, 1.2 and 1.7).

The attempted suicide prevention should be focused on women younger than 16 years, with any psychiatric disorder, behavioral problem or low self-esteem, who live in an unfavorable family atmosphere, with risky behavior such as smoking, or alcohol or drugs consumption, or who have been forced into sexual contact.