Thoughts of death or suicidal ideation are common in young people aged 12 to 30 years presenting for mental health care

Table 1 Demographic and clinical correlates of suicidal ideation in young people presenting for mental health care

	No suicidal ideation (n = 336) ^a	“Life not worth living” (n = 77) ^b	Thoughts of death or Suicidal ideation (n = 81) ^c	Significance Test [p]	Post hoc
					a vs. b	a vs. c	b vs. c
Females, n (%)	145 (43%)	41 (53%)	53 (65%)	χ² (2, 493) = 13.6 [.001]	na	na	na
Age, years	19.9 ± 4.6	19.4 ± 4.1	20.0 ± 4.1	F (2, 493) = 0.4 [.706]
Age of onset, years	15.4 ± 4.7	15.4 ± 4.8	14.1 ± 3.7	F (2, 397) = 2.5 [.086]
Predicted IQ	100.6 ± 11.7	101.4 ± 9.2	102.9 ± 9.5	F (2, 147.6) = 1.6 [.212]
Education, years	11.5 ± 2.8	11.5 ± 2.5	11.5 ± 2.5	F (2, 489) = 0.1 [.942]
SOFAS	62.4 ± 12.0	58.0 ± 11.2	57.0 ± 11.7	F (2, 387) = 7.2 [.001]	*	**
HDRS total	8.7 ± 5.7	14.8 ± 5.6	19.0 ± 5.6	F (2, 476) = 120.7 [.000]	***	***	***
BPRS total	36.7 ± 8.6	43.7 ± 9.8	49.2 ± 10.5	F (2, 475) = 67.8 [.000]	***	***	***
K10 total	23.0 ± 7.4	30.4 ± 7.8	33.5 ± 6.1	F (2, 424) = 73.8 [.000]	***	***	*
AUDIT total	6.9 ± 7.7	7.5 ± 8.6	8.2 ± 8.5	F (2, 491) = 0.9 [.399]

Note: Final columns provide the results of the post-hoc Scheffe’s pairwise comparisons (with corresponding significance levels: * < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001) where ‘a’ denotes the “No suicidal ideation” group (i.e. HDRS item-3 score = 0); ‘b’ denotes the “Life not worth living” group (i.e. HDRS item-3 score = 1) and ‘c’ denotes the “Thoughts of death or Suicidal ideation” group (i.e. HDRS item-3 score >1). SOFAS = Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale; HDRS = Hamilton Depression rating Scale; BPRS = Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; K-10 = Kessler-10; AUDIT = Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.

ISSN: 1471-244X