Citation

Nkansah-Amankra S. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2013; 43(4): 439-459.

Affiliation

School of Health Sciences, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.12029

PMID

23601148

Abstract

The main objective was to identify distinct patterns of suicidal behaviors over the life course from adolescence to young adulthood and to determine influences of religiosity and other contextual factors on subgroup membership. Semiparametric growth mixture models were used to identify distinct clusters of suicide ideation and suicide attempt trajectories, and generalized estimating equations were used to assess individual and contextual characteristics predicting suicidal behaviors in adolescence and in young adulthood. Distinct trajectories of suicide ideation and suicide attempt were identified for the total sample and for the gender groups. Results showed marked gender differences in the trajectory of suicide ideation and attempt patterns. Religiosity effects on suicidality were prominent in adolescence but not in young adulthood. Analysis showed that an important window of opportunity for preventing the escalation of suicidality exists during the early adolescent period, an opportunity that should be emphasized in interventions on adolescence suicide prevention.

Language: en