Gender influence in suicidal behaviour of Polish adolescents

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and possible suicide attempts and ideation predictors in the school population of girls and boys in the city of Lódź. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to a representative (random) sample of 1663 students, aged 14-21. Boys and girls reporting no suicidal behaviour (NSB) constitute the control groups; the characteristics of these groups were compared to those of the groups with suicidal behaviour (SB), with focus on the associations between different variables and gender, separately for suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA). About 37% of girls and 25% of boys reported suicidal ideation and about 11% and 5%, respectively, suicide attempts. Boys were more likely to make multiple suicide attempts. The relation between SB and the history of psychiatric treatment was the same for both sexes. Boys with SB were significantly more often fascinated with death, and girls were significantly more often exposed to difficult family situations.