Objective:

The aim of this study is to evaluate the socio-demographic characterictics, risk factors and other determiners of this age group of children and adolescent who have attempted suicide.

Materials and Methods:

In our study we retrospectively revised the ‘Suicide Attempt Record Form’ of 121 patients in the 18 years old and under who were admitted to the emergency service of Konya Research Hospital for suicide attempts between January 2009-January 2010.

Results:

Our subjects were 121 children and adolescentsl, 100 of whom were female (82.6%) and 21 were male (17.4%) between the ages of 12-18 years. The most common reasons for suicide attempts are family problems, problems with the opposite sex and school problems. In 99 (81.8%) subjects it was the fi rst suicide attempt, while 22 (18.8%) subjects were found to have a history of prior suicide attempts. 38 of the cases were not evaluated at the psychosocial support unit because they were admitted at night. 83 of the cases were evaluated and were then transferred to Child Psychiatry Clinics and Adult Psychiatry Clinics.

Conclusion:

Most of our subjects were composed of female children and adolescents. The most important causes of suicidal attempts are confl icts in the family and problems with the opposite sex.

Keywords: Suicide attempt, child, adolescent, psychosocial support unit, confl icts in family, opposite sex