Psychosocial risk factors for suicidality in children and adolescents
- PMID: 30684089
- PMCID: PMC7305074
- DOI: 10.1007/s00787-018-01270-9
Psychosocial risk factors for suicidality in children and adolescents
Abstract
Suicidality in childhood and adolescence is of increasing concern. The aim of this paper was to review the published literature identifying key psychosocial risk factors for suicidality in the paediatric population. A systematic two-step search was carried out following the PRISMA statement guidelines, using the terms 'suicidality, suicide, and self-harm' combined with terms 'infant, child, adolescent' according to the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health classification of ages. Forty-four studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. The review identified three main factors that appear to increase the risk of suicidality: psychological factors (depression, anxiety, previous suicide attempt, drug and alcohol use, and other comorbid psychiatric disorders); stressful life events (family problems and peer conflicts); and personality traits (such as neuroticism and impulsivity). The evidence highlights the complexity of suicidality and points towards an interaction of factors contributing to suicidal behaviour. More information is needed to understand the complex relationship between risk factors for suicidality. Prospective studies with adequate sample sizes are needed to investigate these multiple variables of risk concurrently and over time.
Keywords: Adolescents; Children; Psychosocial; Questionnaire; Resilience; Risk; Suicidality; Web-based; Youth.
Conflict of interest statement
Professor Paramala Santosh, is the CEO, Director and stockholder in HealthTracker Ltd. Dr. K. Lievesley is a Project Manager employed at HealthTracker Ltd. Dr. Dittmann has received compensation for serving as consultant or speaker, or he or the institution he works for have received research support or royalties from the organizations or companies indicated: EU (FP7 Programme), US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), German Federal Ministry of Health/Regulatory Agency (BMG/BfArM), German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), German Research Foundation (DFG), Volkswagen Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim, Ferring, Janssen-Cilag, Lilly, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Servier, Shire, Sunovion/Takeda and Theravance. Dr. Dittmann owns Eli Lilly stock. Dr. Zuddas has been a consultant to or has received honoraria or grants from EU (FP7 Programme), Angelini, Lundbeck, Janssen, Roche, Servier, Shire, Takeda, Vifor. Prof. Coghill reports grants and personal fees from Shire, personal fees from Janssen-Cilag, personal fees from Lilly, grants and personal fees from Vifor, personal fees from Novartis, personal fees from Flynn Pharma, personal fees from Medice, personal fees from Oxford University Press, outside the submitted work. Dr. Arango has been a consultant to or has received honoraria or grants from Acadia, Abbot, AMGEN, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Lundbeck, Merck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Servier, Sumitomo-Dainippon Pharma, Shire, Takeda, Teva and Schering Plough. Dr Purper-Ouakil has been consultant for Shire, Boiron, Mensia and has received honoraria or travel grants from Shire, Otsuka, Medice, Jannssen-Cilag, Ardix. None of the other authors have any conflicts of interest or disclosures to declare. Part of this data has been included in an FP7 STOP Report to the European Union.
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