Predictors Of Suicidal Behaviour in Young Adults: A Tertiary Care Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Suicide has been noted as a distressing phenomenon among the society, in one way or the other. It poses a serious public health problem and requires meticulous in depth probing with all the compassion for the victims of suicide.The aim of this study is to assess the predictors of suicidal behaviour in young adults and suggest novel suicide prevention policies.   Materials and Methods:It was a hospital based descriptive cross-sectionalstudy conducted over 18 months amongst suicide attempters in the age range of 18 to 35 years who were brought to the Casualty and Psychiatry department of a tertiary care hospital of north India.100 consecutive suicide attempters,who gave voluntary written informed consent were enrolled. Socio-demographic profile, details of past psychiatric illness, family history of psychiatric illness, previous suicidal attempt and history of substance abuse were recorded. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and confirmed on International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (ICD-10).Depression, Anxiety and Stress were assessed on Depression anxiety and Stress Scale-21(DASS-21). Beck Suicide Intent Scale (BSIS)was used to measure severity of suicide intent and to find out any association between presence of past psychiatric history/family history of psychiatric illness/previous suicide attempt with suicide intent   Results: Out of 100 attempted suicidal patients, male to female ratio was 1.44:1.Past psychiatric illness, family history of psychiatric illness, previous suicidal attempt and substance abuse was observed among 23% (n=23), 19%(n=19), 23% (n=23)and 34% (n=34) patients, respectively. 59%(n=59) patients were found to be having psychiatric illness currently. Overall Mean±SD score of severe depression was 25.64±12.36, severe anxiety (19.38±9.39) and moderate stress (24.18±8.61) as assessed on Depression anxiety and Stress Scale-21 items(DASS-21).67%(n=67) patients had high suicide intent on Beck Suicide Intent Scale (BSIS).There was positive association between past psychiatric illnesses and BSIS i.e.,91.3% compared to 59.7% without psychiatric illness(c2=18.589, p=0.001). Conclusion: Multifactorial indicators and psychological aspects such as depression, anxiety, stress and substance abuse reaffirm its causality with high suicide intent and a forerunner for subsequent attempts.