Question

A family member of an adolescent who has expressed a desire to commit suicide asks the nurse, “What might predict the possibility of future suicide attempts?” Which element would the nurse include in the response?

1. death os spouse
2. polydrug use
3. previous suicide attempt
4. unemployment

Answer 1

Previous suicidal behaviors are the strongest predictors of future suicidal behaviors, such as suicide attempts .

Furthermore, adolescents who have made multiple past attempts are significantly more likely to make a future attempt in comparison to adolescents with one past attempt or only suicidal ideation

Social and environmental risk factors include bullying, impaired parent–child relationship, living outside of the home (homeless or in a corrections facility or group home), difficulties in school, neither working nor attending school, social isolation, and presence of stressful life events, such as legal or romantic difficulties or an argument with a parent. An unsupported social environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents, for example, increases risk of suicide attempts.Protective factors include religious involvement and connection between the adolescent and parents, school, and peers.

The number of adolescent deaths that result from suicide in the United States had been increasing dramatically during recent decades until 1990, when it began to decrease modestly. From 1950 to 1990, the suicide rate for adolescents 15 to 19 years old increased by 300%,but from 1990 to 2013, the rate in this age group decreased by 28%.In 2013, there were 1748 suicides among people 15 to 19 years old.The true number of deaths from suicide actually may be higher, because some of these deaths may have been recorded as “accidental.”Adolescent boys 15 to 19 years old had a completed suicide rate that was 3 times greater than that of their female counterparts,whereas the rate of suicide attempts was twice as high among girls than among boys, correlating to girls tending to choose less lethal methods. The ratio of attempted suicides to completed suicides among adolescents is estimated to be 50:1 to 100:1.