ADOLESCENTS AT RISK FOR SUICIDE. PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SEYLE IN THE ITALIAN SAMPLE

Background: Suicide is the third cause of death among youth aged between 15-19 years old. SEYLE (Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe) is a randomized controlled trial of mental health promotion and suicide prevention, founded by the European Union. Method: The Italian sample consisted of 1195 high school students (mean age 15.3±0.6; 68% females) from the Molise region. Baseline data about suicidal ideation (Paykel Suicide Scale), well-being (WHO-5), symptoms of depression (Beck Depression Inventory for Young), risk behaviours and other psychosocial information were collected using a structured questionnaire. Pupils was considered emergency cases if they answered “sometimes”, “often”, “very often” or “always” to the question “during the past two weeks, have you reached the point where you seriously considered taking your life or perhaps made plans how you would go about doing it? and/or if they responded “Yes, during the past 2 weeks” to the question “Have you ever tried to take your own life?”. Results: The statistical analysis shows that 2,9% of this sample should be considered as “at risk”, according to the emergency cases identification, and that 1,4% made a suicide attempt in lifetime. Pupils “at risk” obtain significant higher total scores on BDI-Y (18.20±11.16; P<0.0001) and PSS (4.6±5.6; P<0.0001) and lower on WHO-5 (11.61±4.1; P =0.002). Conclusions: Adolescents present a high suicide risk, although often underestimated. These preliminary results seem to confirm the effectiveness of the utilized instruments as indicators of suicide risk among adolescents, in agreement with studies conducted in adult population.