Comparison of suicide attempts by male and female adolescents. Results of a 10-year patient population of a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic
Hummel, P.; Poggenburg, I.; Thömke, V.; Specht, F.
Psychiatrische Praxis 27(1): 14-18
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0303-4259 PMID: 10705597 Document Number: 516506
This study examines the way in which suicide attempts differ between male and female adolescents. The characteristics of 173 female and 62 male adolescents who were treated at a clinic for child and adolescent psychiatry over a period of 10 years were investigated. Suicide attempts by adolescents in the patient population did not decrease in accordance with suicides in the same age-group among the general population. Male adolescents more often attempted suicide in a place where they were less likely to be discovered, but did not use a "harsher" method than female adolescents. The diagnosis rendered according to ICD-10 in 36% of cases was not always typical for the respective sex. The ways in which adolescents attempt suicide have clearly changed over the past years. Diagnoses that are untypical for the respective sex may represent a risk factor.