Thoughts of Death and Suicide in Early Adolescence

Abstract

This community-based study estimates the prevalence and persistence of thoughts of death and suicide during early adolescence. A latent class approach was used to identify distinct subgroups based on endorsements to depression items administered repeatedly over 24 months. Two classes emerged, with 75% in a LOW IDEATION class across four assessments. <2% persisted in the HIGH IDEATION class over 3+ assessments. African American and Asian American adolescents were more likely than European Americans to belong to the HIGH IDEATION class. No members of the LOW IDEATION class endorsed "thought about killing myself", while "thoughts of death and dying" was endorsed by members of both classes. Implications for interpreting meanings of death and suicide ideation in early adolescence are discussed.Suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents (Anderson, 2002) with many more youth reporting thoughts of suicide as well as suicide attempts (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2006). While risk of death by suicide is still relatively low among children younger than 12 years of age, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 12-year-olds (Hoyert, Heron, Murphy, & Kung, 2006). A 2006 survey of a representative sample of 4447 public school students in Washington State found that 11% of eighth graders had considered attempting suicide in the prior twelve months (Washington State Department of Health [DOH], 2007). In a community-based study the occurrence of suicidal thoughts was investigated among seventh through ninth graders using three items from the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale . Assessments were conducted annually over a three year period in early adolescence. At each assessment, 70% of respondents reported no suicidal thoughts, 15 to 20% reported some thoughts, while 6% reported high suicidal ideation scores. Given that thoughts about suicide appear to be quite common among adolescents (Lewinsohn, Rhode, & Seeley, 1996), some researchers suggest that suicidal ideation during high school age adolescents is normative (Marcenko, Fishman, & Friedman, 1999). The meaning and developmental course of suicidal thoughts in early adolescence is, however, not well understood.Early adolescence is a period of significant change, during which children undergo the physical changes associated with puberty and face new challenges as they transition to middle school where they encounter increased peer and academic pressures (Rudolph, Lambert, Clark, & Corresponding author: Ann Vander Stoep, Ph.D., University of Washington, Child Health Institute, 6200 NE 74 th Street, Suite 215, Seattle, Phone: (206) 543-1538; Fax: (206) 2001;Simmons, Burgeson, Carlton-Ford, & Blyth, 1987). The number of youth who experience emotional and behavioral problems increases (Hankin et al., 1998;Newman et al., 1996). Recent developments in neuroscience contribute to our understanding of why the risk of emotional and behavioral problems increases during adolescence (Giedd, 2004;Steinberg et ...

Suicidal ideation and behavior in institutions of higher learning: A latent class analysis

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“…In the suicide risk literature, LCA has been used to identify precipitants for suicidal thoughts among adolescents of various ethnic and racial backgrounds (De Luca et al, 2014; Stoep et al, 2009); to predict suicidal behavior (Thompson et al, 2009); to recognize patterns in known risk factors for suicide among suicide decedents (Judd et al, 2012; Kim et al, 2003; Logan et al, 2011); to identify psychiatric disorder subtypes that might be more strongly associated with suicidal thoughts or behaviors (Li et al, 2014; Pan et al, 2014); and to explore interactions among suicide risk factors (Pena et al, 2012). …”

Effects of a classroom‐based educational resource on adolescent mental health literacy: A cluster randomised controlled trial

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