A 5-year follow-up study of suicide attempts among French adolescents

Purpose: The social, medical, and psychological outcomes of 552 adolescents hospitalized subsequent to an attempted suicide were assessed after an average 5-year follow-up period. Methods: Evaluation took place by means of mailed questionnaires completed by the adolescents, their parents, and the general practitioner. Using regression analysis, responses were compared with those of a comparison group (n = 273). Results: In the suicidal group, the mean annual mortality rate was seven-fold greater than in the general population of the same age. Education level was lower, and the consumption of alcohol, psychiatric hospitalizations, and contacts with the criminal justice system were more frequent than in the control group. No other variables explored were significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: The results of this study carried out on a large sample of French suicidal adolescents tend to confirm results of previous studies performed in other countries. They show that the prognosis for the suicidal adolescent group is less favorable than that of the comparison group. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1998.