Adolescent Suicide Attempt Analysis in United States (Part 1)

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide happens because of many reasons such as mental disorder, bullying, alcohol, drugs, financial difficulties, interpersonal relationship  and many others. Below is a chart from ngram google books. The chart displays frequencies of any word or short sentence using yearly count of n-grams found in the sources printed between 1900 - 2008. It can be seen that the word suicide increases more than double from 1900s to 2000s. It shows that suicide becomes important issue nowdays. Many studies are conducted to understand the cause of suicide. One of the studies by Henry and Short analyze the relation between business cycle and suicide rates in United States. The hypothesis that is used are suicide rates are aggressive reaction to frustration caused by economic forces. It is mentioned that suicide varies negatively with the strength of external restraint over behavior when behavior is subjected to strong intense involvement in social relationships. Other interesting study is made by Sinha, Cnaan and Gelles about relationship between religious activities and risk behavior. Based on the study, it indicates that youth religious activities are associated with decreased risk behaviors.

This study wants to analyze about suicide of Adolescent that happen in United States. The study uses data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth). The survey comprised adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States. The survey focuses on factors that may influence adolescents' health and risk behaviors including, including personal traits, families, friendships, romantic relationships, peer groups, schools, neighborhoods and communities.

The aim of this study is to investigate the association of drug consumption with suicide. It is expected that there is association between drug consumption and suicide (first hypothesis).

After examination of AddHealth Codebook, Variables that relevant to the aim of first topic are

Section 33: Suicide, the relevant variables are follows:

Variables	Description	Data
H1SU1	During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously think about committing suicide	0: no 1: yes 6: refused 8: don’t know 9: not applicable Note: if the answer is either 0,6,8,9 then variable H1SU2 and H1SU3 are skipped.
H1SU2	During the past 12 months, how many times did you actually attempt suicide	0: 0 times 1: 1 time 2: 2 or 3 times 3: 4 or 5 times 4: 6 or more times 6: refused 7: legitimate skip (did not seriously think about committing suicide 8: don’t know Note: if the answer is either 0,6,8 then variable H1SU3 are skipped.
H1SU3	Did any attempt result in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse?	0: no 1: yes 7: legitimate skip (did not attempt suicide)
H1SU8	How honestly have you answered the questions?	1: not honestly at all 2: somewhat honestly 3: very honestly 4: completely honestly 6: refused 8: don’t know 9: not applicable

Section 28: Tobacco, Alcohol, Drugs, the relevant variables are follows:

H1TO31	During your life, how many times have you used marijuana?	range 1 - 900 times 996: refused 997: legitimate skip (has not tried marijuana) 998: don’t know 999: not applicable
H1TO35	During your life, how many times have you used cocaine?	range 1 - 700 times 996: refused 997: legitimate skip (has not tried marijuana) 998: don’t know 999: not applicable
H1TO41	During your life, how many times have you used any other illegal drug such as LSD, PCP, ecstasy, mushrooms, speed, ice, heroin or pills without a doctor’s prescription?	range 1 - 900 times 996: refused 997: legitimate skip (has not tried marijuana) 998: don’t know 999: not applicable

A further aim to expand the study about suicide is to investigate what type of activities and time spend are associated with suicide attempt. The second hypothesis, the less time adolescent do any activities the more attempt to suicide. The relevant variables are taken from Section 2 of AddHealth Codebook.

Section 2: Daily Activities, the relevant variables are follows:

H1DA1	During the past week, how many times did you do work around the house, such as cleaning, cooking, laundry, yardwork, or caring for a pet?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA2	During the past week, how many times did you do hobbies, such as collecting baseball cards, playing a musical instrument, reading, or doing arts and crafts?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA3	During the past week, how many times did you watch television or videos, or play video games?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA4	During the past week, how many times did you go roller-blading, roller-skating, skate-boarding, or bicycling?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA5	During the past week, how many times did you play an active sport, such as baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, swimming, or football?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA6	During the past week, how many times did you do exercise, such as jogging, walking, karate, jumping rope, gymnastics or dancing?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA7	During the past week, how many times did you just hang out with friends?	0: not at all 1: 1 or 2 times 2: 3 or 4 times 3: 5 or more times 6: refused 8: don’t know
H1DA8	How many hours a week do you watch television?	0: does not watch television range 1 to 99 hours 996: refused 998: don’t know
H1DA9	How many hours a week do you watch videos?	0: does not watch videos range 1 to 99 hours 996: refused 998: don’t know
H1DA10	How many hours a week do you play video or computer games?	0: does not play video or computer games range 1 to 99 hours 996: refused 998: don’t know
H1DA11	How many hours a week do you listen to the radio?	0: does not listen to the radio range 1 to 99 hours 996: refused 998: don’t know

Bibliography:

1. Henry, A.F., Short, J.F., Suicide and Homicide - Some Economic, sociological and Psychological Aspects of Aggression, Arno Press, 1977.
2. Sinha, J.W., Cnaan, R. A., Gelles, R.J., Adolescent risk behaviors and religion: Findings from a national study, Journal of Adolescent, April 2007, Vol. 30, Issue 2, Pages 231 - 249.