Citation

Kweon YS. J. Korean Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2020; 31(4): 167-168.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)

DOI

10.5765/jkacap.200038

PMID

33110352 PMCID

Abstract

Despite international cooperation and national efforts to reduce the suicide rate, the effect on suicide prevention has not been so promising. In terms of society's resource availability and cost-effectiveness, it is reasonable to establish a suicide prevention policy that focuses on the high-risk group, which is expected to reduce the suicide rate. In South Korea, which has had the highest suicide rate among the OECD countries for over a decade, suicide prevention policies and strategies have focused on adults and the elderly population, both of whom have been identified as high risk for suicide [1]. In this context, preventing suicide among youth, who show a lower suicide rate than adults, has been implemented in school settings by the Ministry of Education (MOE) instead of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), which is the main agency for health policies. Since school is a place where students spend most of their time and a protective environment in which we can apply various structured, non-academic student supports, school-based strategies for mental health promotion and suicide prevention can be actively implemented. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed the importance of school-based interventions as evidence-based interventions and is in the process of developing the Helping Adolescents Thrive (HAT) intervention package [2]. In South Korea, a nationwide school-based mental health screening test and mental health risk level-based support services are provided through the school system, local offices of education, and the MOE. Furthermore, the Suicide and School Mental Health Institute [3], operating under the MOE, examines and analyzes the test results and suicide/death data to evaluate the effectiveness of suicide prevention strategies and identifies the characteristics of youth suicide to assess future strategy directions for prevention, maintaining a relatively unified system.

Teen suicide has drawn attention as a major public mental health problem in the past decade. The WHO (2017) reported that the rate of suicide among 15-29 year olds is increasing, suicide being the second leading cause of death. The increase in suicide rate was especially marked in the female teenage group [4], and analysis of the U.S. high school Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) data from 2009 to 2017 revealed a significant correlation between symptoms of depression and increase in suicidal risk only among young females [5], suggesting that personalized intervention based on gender and individual risk factors of at risk youth is important for effective suicide prevention.

Similar to suicide in adults, the route to suicide in youth is a complex multifactorial interaction including biological, psychological, and societal influences. Moreover, since adolescence is a period of heightened...

Language: en