Abstract
BackgroundSuicidal behavior is a major cause of injury and death worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults. Few studies have tackled this issue in the Arab world. The present study investigated the prevalence and the risk factors of suicidal behaviors among Moroccan school students.MethodsFrom April 2012 to November 2013, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the North-Centre region of Morocco among students in public secondary schools selected using stratified cluster random sampling. The data were collected via anonymous self-administered questionnaires. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used in its Moroccan Colloquial Arabic version to assess suicidality according to the DSM-IV criteria.ResultsA total of 3020 students (53 % boys) aged 11–23 years (average age = 16 ± 2.1 years) were included in the study. The prevalence of suicide ideation, suicide planning and suicide attempts during the last month were 15.7, 6.3, and 6.5 % respectively.Univariate analyses demonstrated that suicidal behaviors followed different epidemiological patterns. According to the multivariate analyses, the risk factors for all suicidal behaviors among Moroccan school students were the female gender, middle school level, urban locations, low family income, parents’ divorce, tobacco consumption and psychoactive substances (alcohol and cannabis) use.ConclusionsThe intervention of preventive programs has become an emergency to overcome the issue of suicidality in Morocco. Further researches on adolescents’ suicidal behaviors are suggested to update temporal data and assess the effectiveness of potential interventions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0680-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Suicidal behavior is a major cause of injury and death worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults
Suicidal ideation refers to thoughts of engaging in behavior intended to end one’s life, whereas suicide planning is defined as the formulation of a specific method through which one intends to die
The rate of psychoactive substances use was higher among boys than girls (15.74 % vs. 2.13 %; p < 0.001)
Summary
Suicidal behavior is a major cause of injury and death worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults. Suicidal behavior comprises a wide range of thoughts and acts intended to end one’s life, such as suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempts [1]. Suicidal ideation refers to thoughts of engaging in behavior intended to end one’s life, whereas suicide planning is defined as the formulation of a specific method through which one intends to die. Attempted suicide is understood as an engagement in potentially self-injurious behavior in which there is at least some intent to die [2, 3]. Suicidal behaviors are among the main causes of death worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults [4, 5]. According to the World Health Organization report (2014), the global median rate of suicide was 6.55 per 100 000 people, compared to 4.90 in the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region [6]
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