NCJ Number
179369
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 38 Issue: 11 Dated: November 1999 Pages: 1433-1441
Date Published
November 1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
A community survey was conducted to examine suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, behavioral problems, psychological distress, social support, and adjustment difficulties in a sample of adolescents.
Abstract
A total of 406 Russian-born Jewish immigrants to Israel, aged 11 to 18 years, were selected to match the age and sex distribution of the total immigrant adolescent population. Two indigenous samples of Jewish adolescents in Russia (n=203) and in Israel (n=104) were matched with immigrants for comparison. Parameters of interest were measured with self-administered questionnaires. Findings show that the 6-month prevalence rate of suicidal ideation in the immigrant sample (10.9 percent) was significantly higher than that for Russian controls (3.5 percent) but not for Israeli natives (8.7 percent). There were few gender differences in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Older adolescents reported suicidal ideation two times more often than their younger counterparts. Suicide ideators scored significantly higher than nonideators on all scales of psychological distress and behavioral problems. They rated higher sources of immigration difficulties concerning language, physical health, personality characteristics, and family problems, but had less socioeconomic and intercultural problems of migration and lower social support from the family, but not from other sources. Results support the migration-convergence hypothesis of suicide risk among adolescents. 4 tables and 34 references