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Suicidal Ideation, Plans, and Attempts Among Rural Young Chinese: The Effect of Suicide Death by a Family Member or Friend

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Abstract

Suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts have been found to be predictors of suicide. This study aims to estimate the suicidal behaviors in rural China. We studied 784 respondents as informants of suicide and 1,247 respondents as informants of community living controls, with the NCS-R measures on suicidal behaviors. The lifetime prevalence of ideation, plans, and attempts among the informants of suicide was 18.1, 4.1, and 1.7%, and the 12-month prevalence was 12.1, 2.2, and 0.4%, respectively. The prevalence scores were higher for the family members than for friends of suicide. The risk factors for suicidal behaviors include being parents or spouse of the suicide, female gender, low education level, and being never married. As suicidal behaviors are more observed among those who have a suicide death in the family or among close friends, suicide screening and intervention efforts should be focused on this type of population.

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Acknowledgments

The current study is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant R01 MH068560), of which Dr. Jie Zhang is the Principal Investigator. His email address is zhangj@buffalostate.edu. We thank our research collaborators Dr. Jiang Chao in Liaoning, Dr. Xiao Shuiyuan in Hunan, and Dr. Jia Cunxian in Shandong of China. We also thank all interviewers for their tremendous contribution to the study.

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Correspondence to Li Zhou.

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Zhang, J., Zhou, L. Suicidal Ideation, Plans, and Attempts Among Rural Young Chinese: The Effect of Suicide Death by a Family Member or Friend. Community Ment Health J 47, 506–512 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-010-9332-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-010-9332-2

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