Role of Gender in Phemenon of Non-Suicidal Self-Injuries and Suicide Attempt Among Clinical Population of Adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Non suicidal self-injury is defined as intentional self-inflicted injury without the intent to die. Suicide attempt is defined as a non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behavior with the intent to die. Although distinct behaviors, they are frequently associated and possibly clinically related. The aims of this study are to explore demographic data, social-demographic differences between genders, co-occurrence of non-suicidal self-injuries with suicide attempt, their association with gender and clinical variables. Retrospective cohort study on 143 patient admitted in Clinic for mental disorders „Dr Laza Lazarevic“, aged 14 to 18 years, between January 2015 and January 2016. Information were obtained from database and included two categories of variables: socio-demographic (age, gender, education level, current living situation) and clinical variables (abuse, neglect, peer violence, aggressive behavior, non-suicidal self-injuries, suicide attempt and others). The mean age of adolescents was 15.8 years, with female being more frequent in the sample (51.4%). The incidence of Mood disorders was significantly higher (p<0.05) in female compared to male (χ2꞊3,96, df꞊1, rC꞊0.16, p꞊0.04). A significantly higher incidence (p<0.05) of non-suicidal self-injury (χ2꞊11.15, df꞊1, rC꞊0.27, p꞊0.001) and suicide attempt was found in female compared to male (χ2꞊5.38, df꞊1, rC꞊0.19, p꞊0.02). No statistically significant difference was found in their simultaneous occurrence compared to total population of hospitalized adolescents. The findings of the present study demonstrated that non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempt occur in clinical population of adolescent more often among female then in male adolescents.