We Don’t Belong Here: Adolescents of North Korean Refugee Families and Their Suicidal Behaviors

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of studies that examine the link between immigration and suicide in Korean youths, most have focused on self-harming behaviours among adolescents in multicultural families, while much less attention has been directed towards those in North Korean (NK) refugee families. This paper addresses this gap by comparing three determinants of suicidal behaviours across three groups of Korean adolescents. Data are drawn from the KYRBS, a nationally representative sample of students in middle and high schools, and the results indicate that NK youths were 87.2 per cent more likely to have suicidal ideation than their South Korean peers, that they are 3.7 times more likely to experience suicidal plans and 4.1 times more likely to attempt suicide. These results clearly suggest that immigrant youths, including NK refugees, are confronting significant difficulties with assimilation, and those disadvantages lead to a higher propensity of self-threatening behaviours.

Suicide rates and suicidal behaviour in displaced people: A systematic review

“…Among the studies using general samples, 15 [ 17 , 18 , 20 , 30 , 39 , 47 – 49 , 54 , 55 , 77 , 79 , 83 , 85 , 88 ] reported on the prevalence of suicide attempts ( Table 3 ). The results are ordered by timeframe for the prevalence estimates and then sub-grouped by population type.…”

“…Six studies in general samples compared the prevalence of suicide attempts in displaced people to the host population. Only five of these studies [ 20 , 30 , 54 , 77 , 81 ] reported data in formats that could be presented visually in forest plots ( Fig 3 ). Two of these studies were in refugees granted asylum, one was in mixed refugees & asylum seekers, one was in internally displaced people, and one was a pooled report of mixed refugee populations across 21 countries [ 81 ].…”

“… Choi 2020 [ 30 ] adjusted for interview year; Stein 2010 [ 81 ] adjusted for person-year, country, demographic factors (age, sex, time-varying education, time-varying marriage), interactions between life course and demographic variables, parent psychopathology, and childhood adversities; Amin 2021 [ 20 ] adjusted for socio-demographic, labour market marginalisation and morbidity factors (i.e. sex, age, educational level, family situation and type of residential area, days with full-time unemployment, net days with sickness absence, granted disability pension, history of suicide attempt; history of inpatient or specialised outpatient healthcare); Sohn 2019 [ 77 ] age- and gender-matched; Marroquin-Rivera 2020 [ 54 ] unadjusted.…”

“…In the two studies on refugees granted asylum, one reported a lower risk of suicide attempt than in the host population [ 20 ] while the other reported a higher risk [ 30 ]. The study of mixed refugee types [ 81 ] reported an odds ratio of 1.00 [95% CI 0.60, 1.67] indicating little to no difference between the refugees and the host populations.…”

“…Among the studies with general samples, 37 [ 16 – 18 , 21 , 25 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 44 , 45 , 47 – 49 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 66 , 70 , 71 , 75 , 77 – 80 , 82 – 84 , 86 , 88 , 90 ] reported on the prevalence of suicidal ideation ( Table 4 ). The findings were ordered by prevalence timeframe and sub-grouped by population type.…”