The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic and clinical characteristics of suicide attempts in adolescents who visit the emergency department compared to those of adults. This study included 149 children under the age of 18, and 1427 people in the age of 19–65 who came to the emergency department with suicide attempt from 2009 to 2015. We compare sociodemographic, clinical, and suicide attempt-related characteristics through Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis to evaluate the difference between two groups. In adolescents, suicide attempters had more number of previous suicide attempt history than adults. Adolescents used more non-lethal method such as poisoning of over the counter drugs and had about 5 times higher odds ratio in suicide attempts with analgesics. The motivation of suicide attempt among adolescents was more related with interpersonal problems but less with financial or illness-related problems. The intention of suicide attempt in adolescents was less serious and lethal compared to adults. Suicide attempts among adolescents had showed different from adults in method, motivation and intention. Considering the characteristics of suicide attempt among adolescent, it is necessary to keep close attention to adolescent’s suicide attempters and develop the customized intervention program to prevent the suicide attempt in this groups.

To examine the reliability and validity of the self-report Korean version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Kr) in the community sample. The SDQ-Kr was administered to a large sample of school children and adolescents (n=2814) and youth attendees of a psychiatric clinic (n=385) aged 11-16 years. To examine temporal stability, the same questionnaire was administered to a subsample of 167 school youths five to six weeks after the initial assessment. To examine the reliability, we calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficients for internal consistency and Pearson's correlations for test-retest stability. In order to evaluate the factorial structure of the SDQ-Kr items, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation. Finally, discriminant validity was examined by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves employing the area under the curve (AUC) as an index of discriminant ability. Although the internal consistency of some subscales of the SDQ-Kr was somewhat less satisfactory (alpha coefficients; 0.28-0.54) than the English original, coefficients for the total difficulties scores approached sufficient levels (coefficients; 0.69). Other psychometric properties including discriminant validity (AUC for total difficulties and four subscales >0.7) were comparable to those obtained in other language studies. The self-report SDQ-Kr exhibited a low level of reliability, indicating that some items need to be further evaluated and revised to improve the psychometric properties. We suggest that the total difficulties score could be used with more confidence for screening possible mental health problems in youths.

We aimed to investigate the association of non-daily smoking with depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviours among adolescents by analysing data from the 2016 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS), a national school-based survey. We analysed data from a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents aged 12–18 years (n = 65,528). We investigated the risks of depressive symptoms, suicide ideation, plan and attempt in adolescent non-daily smokers using multiple logistic regression analyses after adjusting for confounding factors. Taking into account the trajectory of smoking patterns in adolescents, we assessed all analyses with stratification by early (aged 12–15) and late (aged 16–18) adolescents. Among early adolescents, non-daily smokers were more likely to have depressive symptoms, suicide ideation and plan compared with never smokers and even more likely to have depressive symptoms compared with daily smokers. Among late adolescents, non-daily smokers had higher risks of depressive symptoms, suicide ideation, plan and attempt than never smokers, whereas the risk for suicide attempts was lower than daily smokers. Our findings suggest that non-daily smoking in adolescents was associated with risks for depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviours, and the association was more prominent in early adolescents. Careful attention on the mental health of adolescent non-daily smokers is needed because this is an increasing and easily overlooked group.

(1) Background: The health implications associated with the metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype, in particular related to symptoms of depression, are still not clear. the purpose of this study is to check whether depression and metabolic status are relevant by classifying them into four groups in accordance with the MHO diagnostic standard. Other impressions seen were the differences between sexes and the effects of the MHO on the occurrence of depression. (2) Methods: A sample of 3,586,492 adult individuals from the National Health Insurance Database of Korea was classified into four categories by their metabolic status and body mass index: (1) metabolically healthy non-obese (MHN); (2) metabolically healthy obese (MHO); (3) metabolically unhealthy non-obese (MUN); and (4) metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO). Participants were followed for six to eight years for new incidences of depression. The statistical significance of the general characteristics of the four groups, as well as the mean differences in metabolic syndrome risk factors, was assessed with the use of a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). (3) Results: The MHN ratio in women was higher than in men (men 39.3%, women 55.2%). In both men and women, depression incidence was the highest among MUO participants (odds ratio (OR) = 1.01 in men; OR = 1.09 in women). It was concluded as well that, among the risk factors of metabolic syndrome, waist circumference was the most related to depression. Among the four groups, the MUO phenotype was the most related to depression. Furthermore, in women participants, MHO is also related to a higher risk of depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that MHO is not a totally benign condition in relation to depression in women. (4) Conclusion: Therefore, reducing metabolic syndrome and obesity patients in Korea will likely reduce the incidence of depression.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of continuous case management with a flexible approach on the prevention of suicide by suicide reattempt in a real clinical setting. The subjects in this study were 526 suicide attempters who visited emergency rooms in a teaching hospital in South Korea. Subjects were provided a continuous case management program with a flexible approach according to the severity of their suicide risk and needs. During the entire observation period (from 182 days to 855 days, mean = 572 ± 254), 18 patients (3.7%) died by suicide reattempt: Eight patients (2.27%) in the case management group and 10 patients (7.35%) in the no-case management group. The Cox regression analysis showed that the case management group had a 75% lower risk of death from suicide attempts than the no-case management group (HR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.13–0.87). This result was shown to be more robust after adjusting for confounding factors such as gender, age, psychiatric treatment, suicide attempts, and family history of suicide (adjusted HR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.09–0.83). This study was conducted in a single teaching hospital and not a randomized controlled one. A flexible and continuous case management program for suicide attempters is effective for preventing death by suicide reattempts.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of parental mental health on adolescent offspring. Data regarding 6512 families from the 2010–2021 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed; among them, 428 were placed in the suicidal ideation (SI) group and 421 were placed in the matched control (MC) group. This number was selected for the use of the propensity score matching method. The findings highlighted significant associations between parental mental health and adolescent suicidal ideation, with mothers in the SI group having higher odds of Diagnosed Depression (OR 2.109, 1.023–4.350 95% CI), Depressive Mood (OR 2.155, 1.224–3.793 95% CI), and Suicidal Ideation (OR 2.532, 1.322–4.851 95% CI) compared to the MC group. Regarding the fathers, paternal Suicidal Ideation (OR 4.295, 1.747–10.599 95% CI) was the only significant factor for adolescent suicidal ideation. In contrast, maternal depressive symptoms and help-seeking behavior significantly impacted adolescent help-seeking; Maternal Depressive Mood increased with adolescent Help-Seeking (OR 4.486, 1.312–15.340 95% CI) while Maternal Suicidal Ideation reduced the probability of Help-Seeking in the SI group (OR 0.15, 0.031–0.721, 95% CI). Chronic and severe depressive symptoms in mothers could make adolescents less likely to seek help for their suicidal ideations. Therefore, clinicians working with adolescents should prioritize a family-oriented approach.