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Child and adolescent mental health problems in Tyva Republic, Russia, as possible risk factors for a high suicide rate

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Abstract

High rates of child mental health problems in the Russian Federation have recently been documented; the rates of youth suicide are among the highest in the world. Across the Russian regions, Republic of Tyva has one of the highest rates of child and adolescent suicide and the lowest life expectancy at birth. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associations of mental health problems in Native Tyvinian children and adolescents using internationally recognised measures and diagnoses. A two-stage, two-phase design involved selection of schools in five rural settlements in Western Tyva and two schools in the capital city followed by selection of Native Tyvinian children in grades 3–4 (ages 9–10) and 6–7 (ages 14–15). In the first phase, a screening measure of psychopathology, the Rutter Teacher Questionnaire, was obtained on 1048 children with a 97 % participation rate. In the second phase, more detailed psychiatric assessments were carried out for subgroups of screen-positive and screen-negative children. The prevalence of mental health problems was about 25 %, ranging from 40 % in adolescent boys from rural areas to 9 % in adolescent girls from the city. The patterning of disorders and risk factors were similar to those in other countries, rural areas were associated with an increased risk of psychopathology. The findings indicate that there is an urgent need for interventions to reduce risk in this population and provide effective help for Tyvinian children and adolescents with mental health problems.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by Federal Presidential Programme “Children of North”. H.S. is supported by grants of Russian Foundation for Basic Research # 13-06-00156, Russian Foundation for Humanities # 14-06-00139 and Russian Scientific Foundation # 14-15-00202.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interests.

Ethical standard

The study has been approved by the Ethics committee of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Siberian Branch) and has therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments; specific national laws have been observed, too. All persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine, Novosibirsk State University, Timakova Str., 4, Novosibirsk, 630117, Russia

    Helena R. Slobodskaya

  2. Scientific Research Institute of Medical Problems of the North, Partizan Zheleznyak Str., 3G, Krasnoyarsk, 660022, Russia

    Nadezhda B. Semenova

Authors
  1. Helena R. Slobodskaya
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  2. Nadezhda B. Semenova
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Correspondence to Helena R. Slobodskaya.

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Slobodskaya, H.R., Semenova, N.B. Child and adolescent mental health problems in Tyva Republic, Russia, as possible risk factors for a high suicide rate. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 25, 361–371 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0743-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0743-z

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