Horrifying toll of young Scots who tried to kill themselves

ONE in nine of Scotland’s young adults has attempted suicide, new research reveals – sparking fears for the mental health of the nation’s millennials.

The study of 18 to 34 year-olds also found one in six has self-harmed at some stage in their lives and experts are calling for those involved in the care of young people to be ‘vigilant’ in light of the figures.

In the first study of its kind, researchers from the University of Glasgow questioned 3,508 young Scots, of whom 11.3 per cent admitted attempting suicide. Rates were far higher among women, at 13.8 per cent, than men at 8.8 per cent.

The survey found 16.2 per cent of respondents had self-harmed at some stage in their lives, but the figure for women was far higher again, at 20.9 per cent compared to 11.6 per cent for men. Of all those questioned, 6.5 per cent had a history of both suicide attempts and self-harm.

The study did not look at the reasons why the figures were so high, but the experts say problems such as being socially disadvantaged, suffering traumatic life events and having depression are all risk factors.

Lead author Rory O’Connor, Professor of Health Psychology and director of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at the university’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said: ‘Suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-harm are major public health concerns that affect large numbers of young people.

‘Until now, there have been few studies that estimated how common these thoughts and behaviours were in young adults in the country.

‘These results are stark, and serve to highlight the scale of suicide attempts and self-harm in our country’s young people.

‘We hope our findings emphasise the importance to clinicians, and others involved in the care of young people, to be vigilant given that suicide attempts and self-harm are relatively common.’

He added: ‘Although we did not look at the role of pressures on young people today, we know social media plays some role, but we do not know to what extent.

‘So the key message is that factors accumulate, wearing someone down to the point that they feel a sense of entrapment so they see no other way out. They are being failed somehow. We

‘They are being failed somehow’

need to look closely and carefully at the support that’s available for young people. There is something going on in this young adult population.’

There were 728 suicides in Scotland in 2016, including 202 among 15 to 34 year-olds.

James Jopling, executive director for Scotland at the Samaritans, said: ‘This is an important study detailing issues of real con- cern. Self-harm and suicide attempts are different behaviours, but they are closely related.

‘We also know that many more people attempt suicide than die by it.

‘This study is valuable as it highlights the prevalence of suicide attempts for young people in Scotland.

‘We are losing too many young lives in Scotland too soon to suicide. We must do more.’

The Scottish Government is shortly due to publish a new suicide prevention strategy.

A spokesman said: ‘We welcome research that helps to shed light on the causes of suicide and how better to prevent it.

‘Scotland has seen a significant fall of 17 per cent in the overall suicide rate over the past decade, and we have seen particular progress with the age group covered in this research. Among 15 to 34-year-olds, there has been a decrease of 34 per cent over the past decade. We are currently engaging in a draft suicide prevention action plan in order to continue this strong downward trend, and we have discussed our plan with Professor O’Connor.

‘These findings reinforce the importance of the vision in our Mental Health Strategy that people can get the right help at the right time, can expect recovery, and fully enjoy their rights, free from discrimination and stigma.

‘We want a Scotland where people feel able to talk freely about how they feel and get the help they need.’

The study found that the first episode of self-harm tended to precede the first suicide attempt by about two years.

Its findings are published in the journal BJPsych Open.