Smoking, Drinking, Marijuana, Family Problems, and Suicide
By Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D.
Why do kids kill themselves and what are some of the warning signs? A new study reveals some predictable findings, and some surprises.
Researchers at the Yale Child Study Center and several other universities published a study based on interviews with more than 1200 youth between 9 and 17 living in Connecticut, Georgia, New York, and Puerto Rico, and their adult caretakers. The study used a survey designed by the National Institute of Mental Health.
How common are suicidal thoughts and attempts? Sixty-seven (5 percent) of the youth reported imagining themselves committing suicide within the past 6 months but no history of suicide attempts, and an additional 42 (3 percent) reported that they had attempted suicide at least once in their lives.
Youth who attempted suicide differed from those who thought about suicide in several ways. Those who attempted suicide were more likely to have experienced numerous stressful life events, to have become sexually active, to have smoked more than one cigarette per day, and to have ever smoked marijuana or hashish.
The researchers then combined the youth that had attempted suicide with the youth that had merely imagined doing it, and compared this combined group with other kids their age. Compared to their classmates, the kids who considered or attempted suicide were more likely to report stressful life events, sexual intercourse, having smoked marijuana, having been drunk in the past 6 months, smoking more than one cigarette each day, anxiety or depression, and having been in a fight with punching or kicking in the previous year. Their parents were more likely to report a poor family environment, parental history of a psychiatric disorder, low parental monitoring, and their child’s lack of competence (such as being unable to follow directions), poor social skills, and lack of friends. These differences were significant regardless of student’s age, race, sex, or social class.
As important as those findings, were the absence of a link between suicide and other problems, such as poor school grades, having a non-intact family, marital discord, or parents’ use of physical discipline. These have been found to be related to youth suicide in previous studies.
The authors expressed some surprise that even very low levels of tobacco, marijuana, or alcohol use seemed to increase the risk of suicidal ideas or attempts. This low-level drug use may be a symptom rather than a cause: anxiety, depression, and fights were more important predictors than most of these "risk factors." Previous research suggests that sometimes youth and adults use alcohol or drugs to help them cope with mental problems; unfortunately, those problems often become worse as a result.
The study provides some hints that may be useful to those who want to help prevent youth suicide: even relatively infrequent drinking, drug, and cigarette use, as well as other more obvious problems, can be warning signs of potential suicidal thoughts or attempts. And, although poor grades can be a warning of other serious problems, this study is an added reminder that kids that do well is school can also need help.
Reference:
Psychosocial and Risk Behavior Correlates of Youth Suicide Attempts and Suicidal Ideation
Robert King, MD, Mary Schwab-Stone, MD, Alan Flisher, PhD, and others
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol 40, No 7, July 2001, 837-46.
Copies free from Dr. King at Yale Child Study Center, PO Box 207900, 230 South Frontage Rd, New Haven, CT 06520-7900
These articles are based on Diana Zuckerman's monthly Research Watch columns that appeared in Youth Today in issues from November 1999 through November 2004, and were reprinted with permission. Youth Today is a publication of the American Youth Work Center, 1200 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. (800) 599-2455. E-mail: youthtoday@aol.com.
