Adolescents' Attitudes About the Role of Mental Illness in Suicide, and Their Association with Suicide Risk

Abstract

We examined teenagers' attitudes about the role of mental illness in suicidal behavior and the relationship between these attitudes and suicide risk. Serious suicidal ideation or behavior and associated risk factors (gender, depression, substance problems, and first-hand experience with a suicidal peer) were assessed in 2,419 students at six New York high schools. Less than one fifth of students thought that mental illness was a major contributor to suicide. Suicidal adolescents and those at risk were less likely than their nonsuicidal and low-risk counterparts to associate suicide with mental illness. Our findings contribute to the debate over whether accepting attitudes toward suicide increase suicide risk.

Rekeying Cultural Scripts for Youth Suicide: How Social Networks Facilitate Suicide Diffusion and Suicide Clusters Following Exposure to Suicide

“…In the United States, the idea that mental illness causes suicide is broadly accepted by medical professionals (Marsh 2010) and the public (Lake et al 2013). For example, the following statistic is frequently repeated in academic and lay books about suicide: “At least 90 percent of all people who died by suicide were suffering from a mental illness at the time, most often depression” (Jamison 2001).…”

“…Because exposure renders youth more vulnerable to suicidality, we now examine how youth reacted to the local script for suicide and present our evidence for the script’s contribution to vulnerability to suicide. Of course, due to the rare nature of suicide, we are largely limited to examining factors that may render a youth probabilistically more vulnerable to suicide or suicidality (Roth and Mehta 2002), like attitudes toward suicide (Gould et al 2004; Lake et al 2013; Pitman et al 2017), rather than suicide itself, or to evaluating post hoc evidence of a decedent’s motives. Indeed, the local belief in Poplar Grove that pressure “causes” suicide is concerning because this suicide narrative invokes a broadly shared experience (pressure) that plays a role in why many youth in the community are miserable (Mueller and Abrutyn 2016).…”

Young People's Reasons for Feeling Suicidal

“…A variety of methods have been used to investigate youth perspectives on suicide including surveys, focus group discussions, and interviews (Curtis, 2010; Gibson, Wilson, Le Grice, & Seymour, 2017; Heled & Read, 2005; Shilubane et al, 2014; Stubbing & Gibson, 2018). The limited research available suggests youth in general view suicide as an understandable response to life's difficulties, rather than a product of a mental health problem (e.g., Lake, Kandasmy, Kleinman, & Gould, 2013); however, this may be different for suicidal youth who have been recruited through a mental health service (Bennett, Coggan, & Adams, 2003). It is especially important to understand how young people who have not accessed health services account for their suicidality given the high risks in this group.…”

The Gut Microbiome of Youth Who Have Behavioral and Mental Health Problems: A Scoping Review

“…1 Behavioral and mental health problems can manifest during childhood and early adolescence, with the prevalence increasing throughout adolescence, and the risk of recurrence during adulthood. 2,3 Behavioral and mental health problems among youth are also predictors of many high-risk behaviors, such as risky sexual behavior, 4 suicide, 5 drug and alcohol abuse, 6 and cigarette smoking. 7 Mental health issues may also lead to increased health care utilization due to their effects on physical health, thereby having a toll on the individual as well as an economic impact.…”