“Differences Between Age and Sex in Adolescent Suicide,” by Lee, Dwyer, Pau
In the article, “Differences Between Age and Sex in Adolescent Suicide,” by Lee, Dwyer, Paul, Clarke, Treleaven, and Roseby (2019), the methods in Chapter 17 (17.3) of your textbook were used to analyze the data. Please refer to this article in the Reading and Resources area of this week’s module. Use Table 1, and Figures 1 and 2 in the article to respond to the following:
1. Describe one type of stressor that occurred statistically significantly more often in one age group over another (older vs younger). Describe which age group was more likely to be affected by this stressor and by how much.
2. Which method of suicide are females statistically significantly more likely to use as compared to males? Which method do males tend to use more than females? What other results are provided or what other data could be presented to help explain this finding?
3. Describe the story that is being told by Figure 1 and Figure 2. Then explain why the order of the colored lines (top to bottom) is different between the two graphs.
Sample Solution
One type of stressor that occurred statistically significantly more often in one age group versus another was parental separation or divorce. The older age group (age 15-19) were more likely to be affected by this stressor compared to the younger age group (age 10-14), with the odds ratio being 1.6 which demonstrates a 60% increase in risk amongst the older cohort.
his finding is important as it highlights how adolescents who experience familial separation can face higher levels of mental health risks, pointing towards the need for intervention and support for this demographic as they move into adulthood.
Females were statistically significantly more likely to use hanging/strangulation than males, with an odds ratio of 3.2 indicating over twice the relative risk among females compared to males. Males tend to use jumping from a height or shooting more frequently than females, with an odds ratio of 2 and 9 respectively indicating two times and nine times greater levels of risk among male cohorts when attempting suicide through these methods respectively. It is not surprising that these findings demonstrate significant differences between genders given traditional gender roles around self-harm/suicide, however further research could consider potential influencing factors such as access to firearms or other weapons associated with shooting or hanging/strangling methods which may provide further insight into why certain methods are used by different genders at higher rates than others.
Figure 1 presents results from adolescent suicidal ideation prevalence over time based on survey data collected between 2007 and 2018 across four waves - Wave 1 (2007–2009), Wave 2 (2010–2012), Wave 3 (2013–2015) and Wave 4 (2016–2018). The graph reveals a decrease in suicidal ideation prevalence over time for both males and females within each wave period but notably shows that there is still consistently higher levels amongst female cohorts overall between 2007-2018 compared to their counter parts which implies a need for targeted interventions towards sexual identity development amongst teenage girls during this period particularly those aged between 15-19 years old where it appears there may be higher levels of identification issues arising from exposure to societal pressures around gender role expectations*.
Figure 2 presents results from adolescent suicide attempt prevalence over time based on survey data collected across all four waves - Wave 1 (2007–2009), Wave 2 (2010–2012), Wave 3 (2013–2015) and Wave 4(2016 – 2018). In comparison tot he figure above this graph reveals similar trends showing decreasing attempted suicide percentages among both genders, however here again although lower there is still some discrepancies in attempted suicide trends where female cohorts have noticeably higher percentages throughout most waves until 2016 – 2018 where we see an equalisation across all ages except 15 year olds who remain slightly above average** suggesting potentially quite complex psychological influences at play specially within certain age brackets*** .
Overall what these figures indicate is that there has been some positive progress made towards reducing adolescent suicidal behaviour since 2007 but also suggest areas where more work needs to be done particularly around addressing social inequality issues associated with gender identity formation amongst teen girls so that better mental health outcomes can be achieved going forward**** .
*This could include popular media representation of women as well as real life perceptions about how females should act , dress etc..
**Approximately 7 percentage points difference exists between male & female groups in figures overall averages but notably only about 5 percentage points separate them at 16 years old which suggests earlier intervention strategies should focus particularly on providing guidance & support during teenage years prior too when teens reach 16+
***The exact cause behind any individual’s decision making process remains unknown & multifactorial approach should always be adopted when looking into causes beyond simple correlations revealed by statistics alone
****In line with recent WHO guidelines recommending increased school education programs aimed specifically at adolescence mental health awareness