Suicide attempts among youth attending special education centres: risk and protective factors

Adolescents studying in special education centres are a group at particular risk of suicidal behaviour. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify risk/protective factors associated with suicide attempts among students aged 12-19 years (N = 1730) who attended Youth Sociotherapy Centres (YSC) and Youth Correctional Centres (YCC) in Poland.

Auditory self- administered surveys were conducted as part of school lessons with procedures in place to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of the data. Hierarchical linear regression was used to analyse the relationship between the frequency of suicide attempts and a set of risk and protective factors.

The results indicate that the risk factors identified as associated with the frequency of suicide attempts were depressive symptoms, sensation-seeking tendencies and having experienced violence and cyberbullying from peers. Among the risk factors confirmed only for boys were the ongoing use of medication for stomach ache, and also listening to music in leisure time. In turn, the risk factors that were confirmed only among girls were domestic conflicts/violence and the use of medicine for nega-tive emotional states. Playing computer games appeared to be a protective factor, but only for boys; no protective factors were identified for girls.

Preventive efforts should be aimed at early identification of youth at risk of depression, peer or domestic violence as well as training YSC/YCC staff in brief interventions addressed to young people at risk of suicide.