• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2016

Purpose: Increase in suicide rate for senior citizens which has become widespread in our society today. It is not a normal social phenomenon and is beyond the danger level. The contents of this study include Korean senior citizens' suicide related risk factors and warning signs, and the development of a simple Geriatric Suicide Risk Scale. Methods: This study is Methodological Research to verify reliability and validity of the Geriatric Suicide Risk Scale according to the tool development process suggested by Devellis (2012). Results: For predictive validity assessment, high suicide screening accuracy was showed with an Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of .93. For the optimal cutoff point of 11, sensitivity was 93.9%, and specificity, 75.7% which are excellence levels. Cross validity for assessment of generalization possibility showed the Area under the ROC curve (AUC) as .82 and in case of a cutoff point of 11, sensitivity was 73.7%, and specificity, 65.9%. Conclusion: When it comes to practical nursing, it is significant that the Korean Geriatric Suicide Risk Scale has high reliability and validity through adequate tool development and the tool assessment step to select degree of suicide risk of senior citizens. Also, it can be easily applied and does not take a long time to administer. Further, it can be used by health care personnel or the general public.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.114-121
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• 2018

Objective: Although suicide is a serious public health concern for adolescents, there is a lack of studies that explore its risk factors in the Republic of Korea. The present study aims to investigate risk factors associated with suicidal behaviors in Korean adolescents. Methods: Participants consisted of 2258 middle and high school students who completed a series of questionnaires regarding suicide ideation or attempts, non-suicidal self-injuries, depression, impulsivity, drinking behaviors, and negative life events, including peer bullying. Results: Among the participants, 8.3% of students reported suicide ideation, while 3.2% reported a history of a suicide attempt in the past 12 months. Depression, peer-victimization, internet-related delinquency, and positive attitudes toward suicide were associated with suicidal ideations and attempts. Adverse life events were also associated with suicide ideation, but not attempts, while not living with both parents and poor family relationships were associated with suicide attempts, but not ideations. Non-suicidal self-injuries were associated with both suicide ideations and attempts. Students with suicidal ideations and attempts can be differentiated depending on the presence of self-injury. Conclusion: In addition to depression or behavioral problems, non-suicidal self-injuries and lack of support from family may also play significant roles in suicide attempts in adolescents. To facilitate the prevention of suicide in adolescents, longitudinal studies should be followed to confirm the risk factors identified in this study.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.120-128
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• 2015

Objectives : The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a commonly used psychological test measuring personality and psychopathology in both clinical and non-clinical population. This study was to evaluate characteristic MMPI-2 profile associated with the risk of suicide among college students. Methods : We analyzed the survey response of 2,964 college students who participated in a health survey from a school health center at a national university in 2011. Those who endorsed any of six items on the suicidaity module of MINI were classified as a suicide risk group and remaining students who did not as a control group. Then we compared the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score, the MMPI-2 Clinical scales and Restructured Clinical (RC) scales. To evaluate the correlation RC scales with suicidality score, Pearson correlation analysis was performed. Results : The suicide risk group was 464 students, and the control group was 2,500. The classification result of suicidality, 255 (8.6%) students were low-risk group, 149 (4.8%) students were moderate-risk group and 60 (2.0%) students were high-risk group. In the suicide risk group, VRIN, F scale, Clinical scale and RC scales were significantly higher. In the control group L, K and S scales were significantly higher. Suicidality score has significant correlation with all RC scales. Conclusion : In the suicide risk group, overall psychopathology was higher than the control group. Taken together, features of depressive symptom, antisocial behavior, aggressiveness, introversion may indicate the risk of suicide in college students. These results display both clinical and public health implications for clinicians and school health professionals.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.5-9
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• 2016

Previous research has identified the biological, psychological, and social factors that confer an elevated risk for suicide. Evidence suggests that sleep disturbances are one of the risk factors that predict an increased risk for suicidal behaviors. Both sleep disorders and general sleep complaints are linked to higher levels of suicidal ideation and depression, as well as increased rates of suicide and suicide attempts. The causal mechanism of this association is not clear. For example, it is not known if insomnia is an independent phenomenon that if interrupted could prevent the emergence of a mental disorder, or if insomnia is a symptom of another developing illness. Hypofrontality, HPA dysfunction, and an impaired serotonergic system are potential mechanisms underlying the association of sleep disturbances and suicidal behavior. Future research is necessary to examine the specific mechanism of this association between sleep and suicide, which may lead to an effective intervention and diminished suicide risk.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2013

The increasing suicide rate is a serious problem in Korea. Because of increased awareness of suicidality as a problem and because completed suicide is the fourth leading cause of death, it is very important to assess the risk of suicide. The purpose of this review is to provide a systematic examination of predictive validity of measures of suicidal ideation and behavior. A number of instruments are described as useful for identifying individuals "at high risk" for suicidal behavior. However, the predictive validity for most suicide measures has not been established. The present review only includes suicide assessment instruments with published predictive validity. In addition to evaluating the suicide assessment with respect to predictive validity, the present review describes and summarizes the psychometric properties of each measure. In conclusion, because of the complexity of studying the risk of suicide and the paucity of well-designed studies, it is extremely difficult to compare and generalize these findings. In addition, only a few instruments, such as the Scale for Suicide Ideation, Suicide Intent Scale and the Beck Hopelessness Scale, have been found to be significant risk factors for completed suicide. Another problem in the field involves that there have been few suicide measures designed for elderly populations. Clearly, future research is needed to investigate the predictive validity of standardized measures for completed suicide, especially targeting elderly populations.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.176-182
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• 2016

Objectives: Prospective evaluations of the associations between depressive symptoms and suicide deaths have been mainly performed in high-risk populations, such as individuals with psychiatric disorders or histories of self-harm. The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine whether more severe depressive symptoms assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were associated with a greater risk of death from suicide in a general-risk population. Methods: A total of 113 478 men from the Korean Veterans Health Study (mean age, 58.9 years) who participated in a postal survey in 2004 were followed up for suicide mortality until 2010. Results: Over 6.4 years of follow-up, 400 men died by suicide (56.7 deaths per 100 000 person-years). More severe depressive symptoms were associated with greater risk of suicide death (p for trend <0.001). The unadjusted hazard ratios (HRs) in comparison to the absence of depression were 2.18 for mild depression, 2.13 for moderate depression, 3.33 for severe depression, and 3.67 for extreme depression. After adjusting for potential confounders, men with a potential depressive disorder had an approximate 90% higher mortality from suicide (adjusted HR, 1.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38 to 2.68; p<0.001) than men without depression. Each five-point increase in the GDS score was associated with a higher risk of death by suicide (adjusted HR, 1.22; p<0.001). The value of the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of GDS scores for suicide deaths was 0.61 (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.64). Conclusions: Depressive symptoms assessed using the GDS were found to be a strong independent predictor of future suicide. However, the estimate of relative risk was weaker than would be expected based on retrospective psychological autopsy studies.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.240-250
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• 2017

Purpose: In South Korea, suicide mortality has rapidly increased, so it has become a major public health concern. Multicultural adolescents are regarded as a high-risk group due to their situation. In this study, we compared the prevalence and risk factors of suicide ideation between Korean and multicultural adolescents. Methods: Data from the eleventh Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2015), collected by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were statistically analyzed using the descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. The total participants were 63,376 in numbers. They were composed of 62,649 (98.9%) Korean and 727 (1.1%) multicultural adolescents. Results: I found that the prevalence of suicide ideation was significantly higher among the multicultural adolescents (15.8%) compared with those of Korean (11.3%). The risk factors of suicide ideation in the Korean group were co-residence without family, poor perceived health status, depressive mood, high stress level, poor perceived happiness level, and experience of violence. Conversely, the risk factors of the multicultural group were smoking, depressive mood, and experience of violence. Conclusion: These findings suggest that appropriate and practical prevention strategies should focus on psychological and environmental factors in order to prevent suicide ideation and reduce suicide behavior in Korean and multicultural adolescents.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.5-27
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• 2011

This study was based on the 'Escape Theory' model suggested by Baumeister(1990). Based on this analysis framework, this study attempted to examine that complicated direct and indirect effect of school risk factors(risk of academic scores, risk of relation with teacher and risk of peer relation) on suicide ideation in adolescence, through negative self-esteem, depression and withdrawal coping. To this end, this study used the data from the '2008 Gyeongsangbuk-Do youth crisis survey' conducted by the Youth service center in province of Gyeongsangbuk-Do. The target number of this study was 2,335 students in the age group of middle school and high school. The result of the Analysis indicate that risk of relation with teacher among school risk factors was only one which affected directly and indirectly on suicide ideation. The other side, risk of academic scores and risk of peer relation had indirect effects, via negative self-esteem, depression and withdrawal coping. In conclusion, this study confirmed that school risk factors had effects on suicide ideation directly or indirectly, they were complicatedly connected, through negative self-esteem, depression and withdrawal coping. Therefore, Prevention program for adolescence' suicide ideation or suicide risk require integrated strategies and tactics.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 2023

Objectives: Suicide rate in South Korea is one of the major public health concerns. This study examined the factors influencing the suicide methods of people who committed suicide in Gyeonggi-do, which accounts for one-fourth of the population of South Korea. Methods: This study analyzed the data of a total of 13,945 suicide deaths in Gyeonggi-do over a five-year period (2016-2020) provided by the Statistics Korea and the influence of social and demographic characteristics on the analyzed suicide methods. The differences in suicide methods according to the social and demographic characteristics of suicide victims were compared and analyzed through chi-squared, and items with significant differences in univariate tests were analyzed by multiple logisitic regression analysis. Results: Among suicide deaths, the most common method of suicide was hanging (52.4%). In particular, women, were employed, and stayed at home were higher risk of being hanged. The second most common method of suicide was leaping (17.7%). Women under the age of 30, those with a college degree or higher, those who were not working, time of death (6-12), and those outside the home were more likely to choose to take the leap. The third most common method of suicide was gas poisoning (15.8%). Young people under the age of 65, college graduates or higher, without a spouse, were employed, and spring season were at increased risk of choosing gas poisoning. Conclusions: The results highlight the need for policies that consider risk factors such as gender, age, education, marital status, employments status, time of suicide, and place of suicide in order to block access to suicide methods for suicide victims in Gyeonggi-do.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-60
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• 2023

Purpose: This study explored the influencing factors on suicide-related behaviors (ideation, plans, and attempts) focusing on mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and loneliness) among Korean adolescents. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted with data from the 16th Korean Youth Health Behavior Survey collected from in 2020 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: After the adjustment of demographic characteristics and health risk behaviors, the influences of mental health problems on suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts showed the anxiety odds ratio (OR) for severe anxiety vs. minimal (OR 4.65, 4.67, and 3.75), depression (OR 4.27, 3.69, and 4.49), loneliness (OR 2.18, 1.96, and 1.96). Health risk behaviors (violence experience, drug use, stress, smoking, and drinking alcohol) and demographic variables (gender, school record, and socioeconomic status) were also significantly associated with suicide-related behaviors. Conclusion: Anxiety, depression, and loneliness were strong predictors of suicide-related behaviors. Early detection of suicide risks through screening for comprehensive mental health problems was recommended. Suicide prevention that considers the risk factors, including mental health problems and other risk factors, needs to be developed and implemented to reduce suicide risks among adolescents.