The stress of exams is often the cause of suicide among adolescents, who are a majority to find the most effective way on the Internet, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal The Lancet Psychiatry. These adolescents in mental difficulty would be 1 out of 4 to have previously had acts of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Researchers at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) carried out a large-scale study to understand the different causes of suicide among adolescents and the means to put them in place. They studied information on all deaths by suicide that occurred among young people aged 20 and under, over a period of 16 months.
The results of this study reveal that the risk factors for suicide in adolescents are bereavement, relationship problems, depression, long-term physical health problems (includingasthma and theacne), family issues, self-harm, bullying, andexcess alcohol and drug use) experienced independently or simultaneously.
Multiple identified factors involved in youth suicide
More specifically, the researchers noted that 27% of young people who died by suicide experienced the stress of exams or other pressures related to their studies, that a diagnosis of mental illness was established in 39% of cases, and problems physical health for more than a third (36%) of them. Scientists have found that in 28% of cases, the death of a loved one was the cause of suicide. L’excess alcohol and the use of drugs would be involved for: 26% of suicides.
Victimization and intimidation are responsible for 22% of early deaths among adolescents.
Symptoms warning signs of suicide in adolescents
The scientists also noted that more than half of them (54%) have a history of self-harm, and that 57% of the adolescents concerned had already had contact with health, social or justice services and have suicidal thoughts. The study also teaches us that in 25% of cases, suicide was mentioned by the teenager in the week preceding its implementation, and in one out of 4 cases, the young person inquired via the Internet on the mode of suicide.
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