Youth suicide in India

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Youth suicide in India is when young Indian people deliberately end their own life. People aged 15 to 24 years have the highest suicide rate in India, which is consistent with international trends in youth suicide. [1] 35% of recorded suicides in India occur in this age group. [1] Risk factors and methods of youth suicide differ from those in other age groups. [1] [2]

Contents

Statistics

Recorded annual youth suicide rates in India are 80 per 100,000 in females and 34 per 100,000 in males (compared to 10.4 per 100,000 in the general Indian population). [1] These reported figures are estimated to be six crore to eight lakh thousand crore under-estimates of the true incidence. [1]

Surveys of high school students in India estimate prevalence of suicidal ideation at 6–22%, and of suicide attempts at 0.39–8%. [3] A survey conducted in 2009 found that 3.9% of young people have exhibited some suicidal behavior. [4]

Risk factors

Biological risk factors

Young age is itself a risk factor for suicide. [1] Developmental changes during youth lead to psychological changes and greater impulsivity. [5]

The risk of suicide for young female adults is higher than that of males. This may be mediated by social factors in addition to biology. [6]

Psychological factors

Negative affect, such as low self-esteem and hopelessness, tends to increase the risk of suicide in young adults. [7] Strategies such as active problem solving and distraction help to protect against suicide, but maladaptive coping strategies increase the risk. [8]

Impulsivity is a psychological factor seen to increase the risk of suicidality in young adults. It has been seen that impulsivity when combined with aggression tends to cause suicide ideation in male youth. [1]

Socio-environmental factors

Trauma and discrimination are strong risk factors for suicide in youth. Sexual, physical and emotional abuse are all associated with increased risk of suicide, [9] as are experience of bullying [9] and loneliness. [1]

Experience of discrimination increases incidence of suicide compared to the general population. [10] This is reflected in greater rates of suicide among members of certain castes and religious minorities. [10] Discrimination based on gender orientation and sexuality is also a risk factor for suicide in youth in India. [1]

Social and environmental factors contribute to the observed sex difference in prevalence. Abuse and intimate partner violence are associated with suicide. [6] In 2019, 1400 deaths by suicide were reported as related to a dowry. [2] Young women may also experience more economic instability and greater stigma associated with mental ill-health. [6]

Interventions

Evidence for interventions to prevent youth suicide in India suggests that a combination of individual therapy, family therapy and peer support system is needed. [1] Broader public awareness interventions are advocated, rather than a focus on mental health and counselling. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-harm</span> Intentional injury to ones body

Self-harm is intentional conduct that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, commonly with suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury, and self-mutilation have been used for any self-harming behavior regardless of suicidal intent. Common forms of self-harm include damaging the skin with a sharp object or scratching with the fingernails, hitting, or burning. The exact bounds of self-harm are imprecise, but generally exclude tissue damage that occurs as an unintended side-effect of eating disorders or substance abuse, as well as more societally acceptable body modification such as tattoos and piercings.

According to a 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14, and the third leading cause of death for those between 15 and 25

There are more than 700,000 estimated suicide deaths every year. Suicide affects every demographic, yet there are some populations that are more impacted than others. For example, among 15–29 year olds, suicide is much more prominent; this being the fourth leading cause of death within this age group.

Irritability is the excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicidal ideation</span> Thoughts, ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of ending ones life

Suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, is the thought process of having ideas, or ruminations about the possibility of completing suicide. It is not a diagnosis but is a symptom of some mental disorders, use of certain psychoactive drugs, and can also occur in response to adverse life circumstances without the presence of a mental disorder.

Suicide risk assessment is a process of estimating the likelihood for a person to attempt or die by suicide. The goal of a thorough risk assessment is to learn about the circumstances of an individual person with regard to suicide, including warning signs, risk factors, and protective factors. Risk for suicide is re-evaluated throughout the course of care to assess the patient's response to personal situational changes and clinical interventions. Accurate and defensible risk assessment requires a clinician to integrate a clinical judgment with the latest evidence-based practice, although accurate prediction of low base rate events, such as suicide, is inherently difficult and prone to false positives.

Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Among youth, attempting suicide is more common among girls; however, boys are more likely to actually perform suicide. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors.

Self-embedding is the insertion of foreign objects either into soft tissues under the skin or into muscle. Self-embedding is typically considered deliberate self-harm, also known as nonsuicidal self-injury, which is defined as "deliberate, direct destruction of tissues without suicidal intent."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Association of Suicidology</span> American nonprofit organization

The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which advocates for suicide prevention. It was established in 1968 by Edwin S. Shneidman, who has been called "a pioneer in suicide prevention." Its official journal is Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, published six times a year by Wiley-Blackwell.

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Researchers study social media and suicide to find if a correlation exists between the two. Some research has shown that there may be a correlation.

Suicide and the Internet have increasingly important relationships as Internet use becomes more ubiquitous.

The relationship between antidepressant use and suicide risk is a subject of medical research and has faced varying levels of debate. This problem was thought to be serious enough to warrant intervention by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to label greater likelihood of suicide as a risk of using antidepressants. Some studies have shown that the use of certain antidepressants correlate with an increased risk of suicide in some patients relative to other antidepressants. However, these conclusions have faced considerable scrutiny and disagreement: A multinational European study indicated that antidepressants decrease risk of suicide at the population level, and other reviews of antidepressant use claim that there is not enough data to indicate antidepressant use increases risk of suicide.

The Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R) is a psychological self-report questionnaire designed to identify risk factors for suicide in children and adolescents between ages 13 and 18. The four-question test is filled out by the child and takes approximately five minutes to complete. The questionnaire has been found to be reliable and valid in recent studies. One study demonstrated that the SBQ-R had high internal consistency with a sample of university students. However, another body of research, which evaluated some of the most commonly used tools for assessing suicidal thoughts and behaviors in college-aged students, found that the SBQ-R and suicide assessment tools in general have very little overlap between them. One of the greatest strengths of the SBQ-R is that, unlike some other tools commonly used for suicidality assessment, it asks about future anticipation of suicidal thoughts or behaviors as well as past and present ones and includes a question about lifetime suicidal ideation, plans to commit suicide, and actual attempts.

In colleges and universities in the United States, suicide is one of the most common causes of death among students. Each year, approximately 24,000 college students attempt suicide while 1,100 attempts end up being fatal, making suicide the second-leading cause of death among U.S. college students. Roughly 12% of college students report the occurrence of suicide ideation during their first four years in college, with 2.6% percent reporting persistent suicide ideation. 65% of college students reported that they knew someone who has either attempted or died by suicide, showing that the majority of students on college campuses are exposed to suicide or suicidal attempts.

Suicide awareness is a proactive effort to raise awareness around suicidal behaviors. It is focused on reducing social stigmas and ambiguity by bringing attention to suicide statistically and sociologically, and by encouraging positive dialogue and engagement to prevent suicide. Suicide awareness is linked to suicide prevention as both address suicide education and the dissemination of information to ultimately decrease the rate of suicide. Awareness is the first stage that can ease the need for prevention. Awareness signifies a fundamental consciousness of the threat, while prevention focuses on stopping the act. Suicide awareness is not a medical engagement but a combination of medical, social, emotional and financial counseling. Suicide awareness in adolescents focuses on the age group between 10–24 years, beginning with the onset of puberty.

"Suicidal ideation" or suicidal thoughts are the precursors of suicide, which is the leading cause of death among youth. Ideation or suicidal thoughts are categorized as: considering, seriously considering, planning, or attempting suicide and youth is typically categorized as individuals below the age of 25. Various research studies show an increased likelihood of suicide ideation in youth in the LGBT community.

Suicide and trauma is the increased risk of suicide that is caused by psychological trauma.

David A. Jobes is an American clinical psychologist. He is currently serving as a Professor of Psychology, Director of the Suicide Prevention Laboratory, and Associate Director of Clinical Training at The Catholic University of America. His areas of focus are on Clinical psychology, Suicide prevention, Clinical Suicidology, Ethics and Risk Management, and clinical risk assessment. In August 2022, he was awarded the Alfred Wellner Award for Lifetime Achievement by The National Register of Health Service Psychologists.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gupta, Snehil; Basera, Devendra (2021-09-10). "Youth Suicide in India: A Critical Review and Implication for the National Suicide Prevention Policy". OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying. 88 (1): 245–273. doi:10.1177/00302228211045169. ISSN   0030-2228. PMID   34505537. S2CID   237472389.
  2. 1 2 Accidental deaths & suicides in India 2019. New Delhi: National Crime Records Bureau. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  3. ↑ Sharma, Rahul; Grover, VijayL; Chaturvedi, Sanjay (2008). "Suicidal behavior amongst adolescent students in south Delhi". Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 50 (1): 30–33. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.39756 . ISSN   0019-5545. PMC   2745855 . PMID   19771304.
  4. ↑ Pillai, A.; Andrews, T.; Patel, V. (2008-08-24). "Violence, psychological distress and the risk of suicidal behaviour in young people in India". International Journal of Epidemiology. 38 (2): 459–469. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyn166 . ISSN   0300-5771. PMID   18725364.
  5. ↑ Bridge, Jeff (October 2020). "2.1 Recent National Trends in Youth Suicide and Suicidal Behavior". Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 59 (10): S268. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2020.07.554. ISSN   0890-8567. S2CID   241542299.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; John, Sujit; Pirkis, Jane; Whiteford, Harvey (May 2005). "Suicide in Developing Countries (2)". Crisis. 26 (3): 112–119. doi:10.1027/0227-5910.26.3.112. ISSN   0227-5910. PMID   16276753.
  7. ↑ Czyz, Ewa K.; Berona, Johnny; King, Cheryl A. (2014-09-29). "A Prospective Examination of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior Among Psychiatric Adolescent Inpatients". Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 45 (2): 243–259. doi:10.1111/sltb.12125. hdl:2027.42/111102. ISSN   0363-0234. PMC   5036446 . PMID   25263410.
  8. ↑ Pisani, Anthony R.; Wyman, Peter A.; Petrova, Mariya; Schmeelk-Cone, Karen; Goldston, David B.; Xia, Yinglin; Gould, Madelyn S. (2012-12-18). "Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Youth–Adult Relationships, and Suicide Attempts Among High School Students in Underserved Communities". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 42 (6): 807–820. doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9884-2. ISSN   0047-2891. PMC   3654393 . PMID   23666604.
  9. 1 2 Gibb, Brandon E.; Alloy, Lauren B.; Abramson, Lyn Y.; Rose, Donna T.; Whitehouse, Wayne G.; Hogan, Michael E. (December 2001). "Childhood Maltreatment and College Students' Current Suicidal Ideation: A Test of the Hopelessness Theory". Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 31 (4): 405–415. doi:10.1521/suli.31.4.405.22042. ISSN   0363-0234. PMID   11775716.
  10. 1 2 Nath, Yogini; Paris, Joel; Thombs, Brett; Kirmayer, Laurence (2011-06-01). "Prevalence and social determinants of suicidal behaviours among college youth in India". International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 58 (4): 393–399. doi:10.1177/0020764011401164. ISSN   0020-7640. PMID   21632571. S2CID   25414662.

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