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. 2020 May 11;6(3):e49.
doi: 10.1192/bjo.2020.33.

Children and young people who die by suicide: childhood-related antecedents, gender differences and service contact

Cathryn Rodway  1 , Su-Gwan Tham  1 , Saied Ibrahim  1 , Pauline Turnbull  1 , Nav Kapur  2 , Louis Appleby  1
Affiliations

Children and young people who die by suicide: childhood-related antecedents, gender differences and service contact

Cathryn Rodway et al. BJPsych Open. .

Abstract

Background: Worldwide suicide is commonest in young people and in many countries, including the UK, suicide rates in young people are rising.

Aims: To investigate the stresses young people face before they take their lives, their contact with services that could be preventative and whether these differ in girls and boys.

Method: We identified a 3-year UK national consecutive case series of deaths by suicide in people aged 10-19, based on national mortality data. We extracted information on the antecedents of suicide from official investigations, primarily inquests.

Results: Between 2014 and 2016, there were 595 suicides by young people, almost 200 per year; 71% were male (n = 425). Suicide rates increased from the mid-teens, most deaths occurred in those aged 17-19 (443, 74%). We obtained data about the antecedents of suicide for 544 (91%). A number of previous and recent stresses were reported including witnessing domestic violence, bullying, self-harm, bereavement (including by suicide) and academic pressures. These experiences were generally more common in girls than boys, whereas drug misuse (odds ratio (OR) = 0.54, 95% CI 0.35-0.83, P = 0.006) and workplace problems (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.28-0.96, P = 0.04) were less common in girls. A total of 329 (60%) had been in contact with specialist children's services, and this was more common in girls (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.19-2.94, P = 0.007).

Conclusions: There are several antecedents to suicide in young people, particularly girls, which are important in a multiagency approach to prevention incorporating education, social care, health services and the third sector. Some of these may also have contributed to the recent rise.

Keywords: Suicide; childhood experience; deliberate self-harm; epidemiology; trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: L.A. chairs the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory (NSPSA) Group at the Department of Health and Social Care in England; N.K. is a member of the Group, chaired the guideline development group for the 2012 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on the longer-term management of self-harm, currently chairs the guideline development group for the NICE depression in adults’ guidelines and is a topic advisor on the new NICE guideline on self-harm, currently in development. Views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and not those of NICE or the Department of Health and Social Care. All other authors declare no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

ICMJE forms are in the supplementary material, available online at https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.33.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number and rate of suicides, by age and gender.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(a) Incidence of suicide in boys (aged under 20) (2014–2016). (b) Incidence of suicide in girls (aged under 20) (2014–2016).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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