Mental Health and Suicide Attempts in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Suicide has become one of the leading causes of mortality among the adolescent population. This worrisome fact demands an exhaustive analysis of this social phenomenon’s reality. Objective: This paper aims to carry out a systematic review of the existing scientific literature in recent years on suicide among minors and adolescents. Method: To achieve this purpose, central databases, WoS, Scopus, and Dialnet, were analyzed, obtaining 34 articles. Results: The results are structured into three main categories. (1) Risk factors: psychological and mental health factors, family and context factors, and, finally, school factors. (2) Prevention: School as prevention, emotional education programs, and tools to deal with this situation. And, finally, the third block, (3) family experiences in the face of suicidal behavior. Conclusions: The studies reviewed highlight the enormous complexity of this problem and show a worrying situation regarding suicide, considering multifactorial aspects such as depression, psychosocial issues, and mood disorders, as well as causes related to the school environment, such as bullying and lack of connection with school. In addition, they denote the importance of family factors in this aspect. Finally, the results highlight the importance of prevention and early detection, underlining the need to develop concrete actions to alleviate this growing situation among adolescents.