Magnitude of Suicidal Behavior and Associated Factors Among Adolescents in Jimma Town, Southwest Ethiopia, 2022

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood. About 1.2 billion people in the world belongs to this age group and it represents a period of higher vulnerability to everyday difficulties leading to impulsive and/or unpredictable behaviour. Despite, most investigations, they fail to consider school or social environment as a factor. Most suicide deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In Ethiopia there is scarcity of data on suicidal behavior among adolescents at the community level and some important factor was not addressed. Therefore, this study aims to assess the magnitude and associated factors of suicidal behavior among adolescents in Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia. Objective: This study aimed at assessing the magnitude of suicidal behaviour, and its associated factors among adolescents in Jimma town, Southwest, Ethiopia, 2022. Method: A Community based cross-sectional study was employed among 633 adolescents of Jimma town using an interviewer-administered pretested structured questionnaire. A Simple random sampling technique was employed. Suicidal behavior questionnaire (SBQR) was used to assess suicidal behavior. Point prevalence was determined. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify associated factors. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) with P-value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. Result: A total of 628 respondents were involved in this study with response rate of 99.2%. Of respondents 321(51.1%) were female and mean age was 15.8 (SD=+2.2) years. Over all prevalence of suicidal behavior was 36.62%. Being female (AOR=1.5; 95%CI: (1.07, 2.17)), age(17-19) (AOR=2.2; 95%CI: (1.31, 3.72)), family history of suicide (AOR=1.9; 95%CI: (1.27, 2.96)) physical abuse (AOR=1.7; 95%CI: (1.23, 2.59))), physical neglect (AOR=1.7; 95%CI: (1.23, 2.53)), sexual abuse (AOR=1.6; 95%CI: (1.02, 2.58)) and current use of khat (AOR=1.7; 95%CI: (1.08 2.65)) were significantly associated with suicidal behavior. Conclusion and recommendation: The study revealed that multiple factors lead to suicidal behavior such as being female, late adolescent age, family history of suicide, physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse and current use of Khat. Early suicidal assessment and primary prevention on identified risk factors was recommended to town health bureau.