Factors Influencing Suicide Attempts of Adolescents with Suicidal Thoughts in South Korea: Using the 15th Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (KYRBS)

Background: Adolescence is a period of physical and psychological change that causes adolescents to experi-ence anxiety, stress, and loss of control. These experiences can lead to thoughts about suicide. However, not all adolescents with suicidal thoughts attempt suicide. This study aimed to identify the factors that influence sui-cide attempts among adolescents with suicidal thoughts, and to prepare a theoretical basis for a method to pre-vent suicide among adolescents. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the 15th Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey (2019) was used. The participants were 7,498 adolescents aged 12-18 yr with thoughts of suicide. Factors influ-encing suicide attempts among adolescents with suicidal thoughts were analyzed using a complex sample lo-gistic analysis. Results: Gender, age, academic performance, and economic level were the general factors associated with sui-cide attempts of adolescents with suicidal thoughts. Physical and psychological factors included smoking, alco-hol use, drug use, sex-related experience, experiencing violence, efforts to reduce weight, level of physical activ-ity, and depression. Conclusion: Age and gender should be taken into consideration when designing suicide prevention activities. In addition, in order to lower the suicide rate of adolescents in Korea, an effective system of prevention and intervention strategies should be implemented, which attend to the issues of adolescents from low-income families, adolescent weight and body image concerns, and adolescent depression.