Suicidal thoughts and behaviours in adolescents and young adults : disentangling the role of gender and sexual orientation
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds. Male youths have higher risk for suicide compared to females, whereas females are at greater risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Mental disorders have been identified as one of the strongest predictors of suicidal t...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/668813 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668813 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Suicidal ideation Suicidal behaviuours Gender Sexual orientation Adolescents and young adults Ideación suicida Conducta suicida Género Orientación sexual Adolescentes y adultos jóvenes 30 |
| Sumario: | Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds. Male youths have higher risk for suicide compared to females, whereas females are at greater risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Mental disorders have been identified as one of the strongest predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STB). Among youth, sexual minority (LGB) individuals are a high-risk subpopulation for STB. Evidence about suicide risk and whether there are possible mechanisms by which some factors increase or diminish the risk according to gender or sexual orientation is scarce. The general aim of this thesis is to provide new evidence about the risk for STB and potential risk and protective factors for STB among adolescents/young adults; and how these vary according to gender and sexual orientation. To achieve this aim, we carried out a systematic review of the literature, followed by a meta-analysis, and analysed empirical data from a cohort study (UNIVERSAL: University and Mental Health) of Spanish university students. The results show that female adolescents/young adults are at greater risk for suicide attempts compared to males. As already well known through information provided by vital statistics registries, males are at higher risk for suicide. Risk and protective factors for STB differ by gender. Internalising disorders and interpersonal difficulties increase the risk among females, while externalizing disorders, hopelessness and some stressful life events (e.g. death of any of the parents) increase the risk for males. In addition, family and peer support are found to be protective factors for suicidal ideation, but only among females. LGB youth have higher risk for STB compared to heterosexuals. This risk is mediated by childhood maltreatment, bullying and a previous history of any mental disorders. Perceived sexual orientation discrimination increases the risk for any mental disorder, which, in turn, carries risk for suicidal ideation. This thesis has provided new evidence on a wide range of individual and community risk and protective factors for STB among adolescents and young adults, and has detected important differences across gender and sexual orientation with regard to STB risk. These results suggest that there is a need to combine preventive strategies focusing on individual risk factors (e.g. early diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders) with those with a public health population-level risk prevention approach (e.g. reinforcing community protective factors), as well as to consider the specific needs of high-risk groups. |
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