AbstractObjectives: To determine the frequency of reported suicidal thoughts and acts in (a) a school-based sample of Irish adolescents, (b) adolescents attending a community child and family mental health service.
Method: The study population consisted of: (a) 195 adolescents aged 13-15 years attending ten secondary schools throughout Ireland. The schools were selected to represent a wide social and cultural spread: and (b) 66 adolescents aged 13-15 years attending a community child mental health service. The measures used were the Child Behaviour Checklist completed by the parents of the adolescents and the Youth Self Report completed by the adolescents.
Results: Within the school sample, the parents of 3% of adolescents reported that their child had talked of harming him/herself, but none reported acts of self-harm. Fifteen percent of the adolescents themselves reported that they had thoughts of harming or killing themselves, and 8% reported that they had tried to harm or kill themselves.
Within the mental health clinic attenders sample, the parents of 33% of the adolescents reported that their child had talked of harming him/herself, and the parents of 27% reported that their child had tried to harm or kill themselves. Twenty-one percent of the adolescents themselves reported that they had thoughts of harming or killing themselves, and 21% percent reported that they had tried to do so. In both groups, adolescents with higher total problem, internalising and externalising scores on the questionnaires, indicating greater disturbance, were more likely to report thoughts and acts of self harm.
Conclusions: Thoughts of suicide and acts of self harm are common in Irish adolescents and are not limited to those attending mental health services. Parents are frequently unaware of these thoughts. Further studies involving interviews with adolescents at risk are indicated to determine the significance of these thoughts and how adolescents deal with them.
摘要:目的:确定确定(a) 以学校为基础的爱尔兰青少年样本,(b) 接受社区儿童和家庭心理健康服务的青少年报告的自杀想法和行为的频率:研究对象包括:(a) 在爱尔兰 10 所中学就读的 195 名 13-15 岁青少年。这些学校的选择代表了广泛的社会和文化分布:(b)66 名 13-15 岁的青少年,他们正在接受社区儿童心理健康服务。采用的测量方法是由青少年父母填写的儿童行为检查表和青少年填写的青少年自我报告:在学校样本中,3%的青少年的父母称他们的孩子曾说过要伤害自己,但没有人报告有自残行为。在心理健康诊所就诊者样本中,33%的青少年的父母表示他们的孩子曾说过要伤害自己,27%的青少年的父母表示他们的孩子曾试图伤害或杀害自己。21%的青少年自己表示曾有过伤害或自杀的念头,21%的青少年表示曾试图这样做。在这两组青少年中,问题总分、内化和外化问卷得分较高的青少年更有可能报告有自我伤害的想法和行为:结论:自杀念头和自我伤害行为在爱尔兰青少年中很常见,并不局限于那些接受心理健康服务的青少年。家长往往不了解这些想法。为了确定这些想法的重要性以及青少年如何处理这些想法,需要对高危青少年进行访谈,以开展进一步的研究。