Factors that affect adolescent drug users’ suicide attempts

Abstract

Drug abuse has been widely linked to suicide risk. We examined the factors that affect adolescent drug users’ suicide attempts in South Korea. This study analyzed the data of 311 adolescents who had used drugs such as inhalants, psychotropic drugs, and marijuana (195 males and 116 females). Among 311 subjects, 109 (35.0%) had attempted suicide during the last 12 months. After adjusting for other variables, depressive mood (OR=19.79) and poly-drug use (OR=2.79), and low/middle levels of academic achievement compared with a high level (OR=3.72 and 4.38) were independently associated with increased odds of a suicide attempt, while better perceived health (OR=0.32) was independently associated with reduced odds of a suicide attempt. For adolescent drug users, preventive work should be directed toward the active treatment of drug use, depression, and physical health and reinforcing proper coping strategies for academic and other stress.