 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Christine Jesser, MS, Mohammad M Rahman, MD, DrPH, Rocio Gonzalez-Luna, MPH, Thien-Nhien Luong, MPH, Aimee Reedy, MPH, and Guadalupe S Olivas, PhD. Santa Clara County Public Health Department, 3003 Moorpark Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128, 408-423-0729, christine.jesser@hhs.co.scl.ca.us
Objective: To determine the behavioral risk factors associated with suicide attempt among middle and high school students.
Methods: Cross sectional data were collected by self-administered questionnaire from over 15,000 7th, 9th, and 11th graders in schools of Santa Clara County via the California Healthy Kids Survey, during the 2001-2002 academic year.
Results: Of the 4655 middle school (MS) students who completed the suicide related questions, 5.5% of males and 8.8% of females (significantly higher than males, p<0.05) reported that they had ever attempted suicide. Among 9406 high school (HS) students, 5.8 % of males and 11.1% of females (significantly higher than males, p<0.05) reported attempted suicide in the past 12 months. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted separately for each gender by school level. The following risk factors were independently associated (p<0.05) with having attempted suicide: ever having had sexual intercourse (all groups); harassment because of a disability (MS males and females); harassment for being gay; heavy drinking (HS males and females); being involved in physical fights (MS/HS females, HS males); belonging to a gang (MS/HS females); being physically hurt by a boyfriend; smoking (MS females); self perceived overweight; gender harassment; and ever having been forced to have sex (HS females). The following race/ethnicities were significantly less likely to have attempted suicide: Asian and White (MS females) and Hispanic (HS males).
Conclusion: This data elucidates important differences between genders and school grade level in risk factors associated with students who attempted suicide.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescent Health, Suicide
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.