Precipitating Factors and Life Events in Serious Suicide Attempts Among Youths Aged 13 Through 24 Years

Using a case-control design, 129 young people making serious suicide attempts were compared with 153 randomly selected community controls on a series of life event occurrences in the previous year. Precipitating factors for serious suicide attempts were also examined. The most common precipitants were relationship/interpersonal problems & financial difficulties. However, one-third of attempters were unable to describe any precipitating factor. Attempters had elevated rates of life events.