Citation

Luke JN, Anderson IP, Gee GJ, Thorpe R, Rowley KG, Reilly RE, Thorpe A, Stewart PJ. Crisis 2013; 34(4): 251-261.

Affiliation

Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, Centre for Health and Society, Melbourne School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000187

PMID

23357216

Abstract

Background: There has been increasing attention over the last decade on the issue of indigenous youth suicide. A number of studies have documented the high prevalence of suicide behavior and mortality in Australia and internationally. However, no studies have focused on documenting the correlates of suicide behavior for indigenous youth in Australia. Aims: To examine the prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt and the associated factors for a community1 cohort of Koori2 (Aboriginal) youth. Method: Data were obtained from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) Young People's Project (YPP), a community initiated cross-sectional data set. In 1997/1998, self-reported data were collected for 172 Koori youth aged 12-26 years living in Melbourne, Australia. The data were analyzed to assess the prevalence of current suicide ideation and lifetime suicide attempt. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to identify closely associated social, emotional, behavioral, and cultural variables at baseline and Cox regression modeling was then used to identify associations between PCA components and suicide ideation and attempt. Results: Ideation and attempt were reported at 23.3% and 24.4%, respectively. PCA yielded five components: (1) emotional distress, (2) social distress A, (3) social distress B, (4) cultural connection, (5) behavioral. All were positively and independently associated with suicide ideation and attempt, while cultural connection showed a negative association. Conclusions: Suicide ideation and attempt were common in this cross-section of indigenous youth with an unfavorable profile for the emotional, social, cultural, and behavioral factors.

Language: en