Shame and Gender Differences in Paths to Youth Suicide

Törnblom, Annelie Werbart; Werbart, Andrzej; Rydelius, Per‐Anders

doi:10.1177/1049732315578402

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Most participants reported that, over time, they had learned to make sense of selfharm and to understand why young people had self-harmed. Many of the reasons they identified are reported in the research literature as factors which are known to contribute to self-harm, including: psychiatric and personality disorders (Hawton, Saunders, Topiwala & Haw, 2013); psychological characteristics such as impulsivity and low self-esteem (Madge et al 2011); stressful life events such as difficulties in relationships, knowing someone else who self-harms or who has attempted suicide, being sexually abused or being bullied (Madge et al 2011;Werbart Törnblom, Werbart & Rydelius, 2015). A high level of impulsivity in early childhood has been implicated in later adolescent self-harming (Goldston, Daniel, Mathias & Dougherty, 2008) and the effects of puberty are also thought to play a part in influencing selfharming behaviour (Patton, Hemphill, Byers et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

et al. 2016

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Self-harm is common in young people, and can have profound effects on parents and other family members. We conducted narrative interviews with 41 parents and other family members of 38 young people, aged up to 25, who had self-harmed. Most of the participants were parents, but included one sibling and one spouse. This article reports experiences of the parent participants. A cross-case thematic analysis showed that most participants were bewildered by self-harm. The disruption to their world-view brought about by self-harm prompted many to undergo a process of 'sense-making' -by ruminative introspection, looking for information and building a new way of seeing -in order to understand and come to terms with self-harm. Most participants appeared to have been successful in making sense of self-harm, though not without considerable effort and emotional struggle. Our findings provide grounds for a deeper socio-cultural understanding of the impact of self-harm on parents.Keywords: Self-harm; adolescence; young adults; parents; families 3 Self-harm is defined as intentional self-injury or self-poisoning regardless of motive (Hawton, Saunders & O'Connor, 2012; Oldershaw, Richards, Simic & Scmidt, 2008). It is common in young people, with some studies reporting up to 38% of young adults engaging in self-harm (Andover, Primack, Gibb & Pepper, 2010). Between 10-17% of adolescents are said to selfharm (Hawton, Rodham, Evans & Weatherall, 2002;Klonsky, 2009). While some research suggests that rates of self-harm are comparable in men and women (Andover et al. 2010), international studies with large community samples show that self-harm occurs three to four times more often in female adolescents than in males (Hawton et al., 2002; Madge et al., 2008;O'Connor, Rasmussen, Miles & Hawton, 2009., Mars et al., 2014McMahon et al. 2014). While suicidal intent may or may not be involved, the most frequent motives for selfharm are intrapersonal -e.g. affect regulation, self-punishment (Klonsky, 2009) or interpersonal -e.g. appeal to others (Scoliers et al., 2009; Hjelmeland et al., 2002). Self-harm is frequently repeated (Hawton et al., 2002;Hawton, Bergen, Kapur, Cooper, Steeg et al., 2012) and often done in secret (Madge et al., 2008). While self-harm in young people often ceases by late adolescence or early adulthood (Moran et al., 2012) it can be a precursor of specific mental health problems (Mars et al., 2014). It also carries a significant risk of suicide .Previous qualitative research has explored the needs, perspectives and responses of parents to their children's self-harm (Byrne, Morgan, Fitzpatrick et al., 2008., Oldershaw et al., 2008Raphael, Clarke & Kumar, 2006). These studies found that parents were deeply distressed by self-harm and that they struggled to understand and cope with it. They often felt helpless and worried about future incidents of self-harm. Their anxieties were increased by feeling that they lacked the parenting skills to respond appropriately, in some cases, and that they did not always rece...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

et al. 2016

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“…Mental disorders also increase distress (Eskin et al, ) and substantial impairment in academic performance (Auerbach et al, ). Childhood and adolescent adversities, bullying, stressful life experiences, and personal traits could also be related (Holt et al, ; Johnson et al, ; L. Wang et al, ; Werbart Törnblom, Werbart, & Rydelius, ). On the contrary, positive relationships with peers and family might be STB protective factors (Cash & Bridge, ; Thompson, Eggert, & Herting, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males have higher rates of completed suicide and lower rates of suicide attempt, compared to females. Likewise, males are three‐ to four‐fold more likely to die by suicide than females (Eaton et al, ; Werbart Törnblom et al, ). The association between suicide and masculinity may play a role in creating a genuine gender gap in suicide rates (Canetto & Sakinofsky, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender commonalities and differences in risk and protective factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A cross‐sectional study of Spanish university students

et al. 2019

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Aim: To assess gender differences in the association between risk/protective factors and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB); and whether there is any genderinteraction with those factors and STB; among Spanish university students.Methods: Data from baseline online survey of UNIVERSAL project, a multicenter, observational study of first-year Spanish university students (18-24 years). We assessed STB; lifetime and 12-month negative life-events and family adversities; mental disorders; personal and community factors. Gender-specific regression models and gender-interactions were also analyzed. Results:We included 2,105 students, 55.4% women. Twelve-month prevalence of suicidal ideation (SI) was 10%, plans 5.7%, attempts 0.6%. Statistically significant 05728; Generalitat de Catalunya, Grant/ Award Number: 20172017 gender-interactions were found for lifetime anxiety disorder, hopelessness, violence between parents, chronic health conditions and family support. Lifetime mood disorder was a common risk factor of SI for both genders (Females: OR= 5.5; 95%CI 3.3-9.3; Males: OR= 4.4; 95%CI 2.0-9.7). For females, exposure to violence between parents (OR= 3.5; 95%CI 1.7-7.2), anxiety disorder (OR= 2.7; 95%CI 1.6-4.6), and alcohol/substance disorder (OR= 2.1; 95%CI 1.1-4.3); and for males, physical childhood maltreatment (OR= 3.6; 95%CI 1.4-9.2), deceased parents (OR= 4.6; 95% CI 1.2-17.7), and hopelessness (OR= 7.7; 95%CI 2.8-21.2), increased SI risk. Family support (OR= 0.5; 95%CI 0.2-0.9) and peers/others support (OR= 0.4; 95%CI 0.2-0.8) were associated to a lower SI risk only among females.Conclusions: Only mood disorder was a common risk factor of SI for both genders, whereas important gender-differences were observed regarding the other factors assessed. The protective effect from family and peers/others support was observed only among females. Further research assessing underlying mechanisms and pathways of gender-differences is needed. K E Y W O R D Sanxiety/anxiety disorders, depression, gender, mood disorders, suicide/self-harm

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“…Shamefulness and discomfort associated with mental illness and relevant treatment was described as one of young people's greatest concerns in seeking help for suicidal ideation and behaviours ( Curtis, 2010 , Czyz et al, 2013 ), which was echoed by the interviews from the informants of young suicide decedents ( Moskos et al, 2007 , Tornblom et al, 2015 ). Although quantitative studies among the students in Australia, China or US ( Chan et al, 2014 , Yakunina et al, 2010 ) have not found a significant effect of stigma on professional help-seeking intentions using the Stigma of Suicide Scale (SOSS, Batterham et al, 2013 ) or the Stigma of Suicide Scale (SSS, Yakunina et al, 2010 ), stigmatising attitudes towards suicidal individuals may still play an important role in young peoples' professional help-seeking attitudes and intentions, as indicated by the findings in a large community sample ( Calear et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and pilot evaluation of an online psychoeducational program for suicide prevention among university students: A randomised controlled trial

Han

Batterham

Calear

et al. 2018

Internet Interventions

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IntroductionSuicide is the second leading cause of death for the university aged population globally. A significant proportion of students with suicidal ideation or behaviours do not seek professional help. Few primary suicide prevention programs have specifically targeted help seeking for suicidal ideation or behaviours among university students.MethodsThis study reported the development and pilot test of a brief, two-module online psychoeducational program (ProHelp) that aimed to encourage help seeking for suicidal ideation and behaviours among university students. The program consists of two five-minute modules that address the risk factors and warning signs of suicide, stigmatising attitudes, and perceived barriers to help seeking. 156 Chinese university students and 101 Australian university students were recruited to evaluate the effectiveness of this program at post-test and one-month follow-up. Participants were randomly assigned to the psychoeducational program or an attention control program.ResultsOf the Chinese and Australian students who were randomised into the study, around 50% completed the twoday posttest survey, and 30% completed the one-month followup survey. Although no significant difference was found between the control and experimental group on professional help-seeking beliefs and intentions, both groups' help-seeking attitudes increased during the study (p = 0.003 for the posttest survey, and p = 0.008 for the followup survey). The experimental group in both countries demonstrated a significant improvement in suicide literacy at the post-test survey (p = 0.015) compared to control. Qualitative feedback indicated that the ProHelp program was user-friendly, clear, and helpful.ConclusionsThis study provides initial evidence that a brief online psychoeducational program could enhance university students' suicide literacy in both China and Australia. It also suggests that increasing suicide literacy might not be sufficient to improve students' help seeking, although effect sizes indicated that this lowintensity online approach shows promise in encouraging more positive beliefs towards help seeking and preparedness to help individuals with suicidal ideation among young people.

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Shame and Gender Differences in Paths to Youth Suicide

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

Making Sense of an Unknown Terrain

Gender commonalities and differences in risk and protective factors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A cross‐sectional study of Spanish university students

Development and pilot evaluation of an online psychoeducational program for suicide prevention among university students: A randomised controlled trial

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