Suicidal ideation in ethnic minority and majority adolescents in Utrecht, the Netherlands

• Published in: Crisis : the journal of crisis intervention and suicide prevention Vol. 29; no. 4; p. 202
• Main Authors: van Bergen, D D, Smit, J H, van Balkom, A J L M, van Ameijden, E, Saharso, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada 01.01.2008
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adolescent; Age Factors; Anxiety - ethnology; Anxiety - psychology; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression - ethnology; Depression - psychology; Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology; Emigrants and Immigrants - statistics & numerical data; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data; Family Conflict - ethnology; Family Conflict - psychology; Female; Humans; Internal-External Control; Loneliness - psychology; Male; Morocco - ethnology; Motivation; Netherlands; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Suicide - ethnology; Suicide - psychology; Suicide, Attempted - ethnology; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Turkey - ethnology; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; Morocco; Netherlands; Turkey
• ISSN: 0227-5910
• DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910.29.4.202

We investigated the prevalence and explored the vulnerability to suicidal ideation across several ethnic minority versus ethnic majority adolescents in the city of Utrecht in The Netherlands. Exploratory analyses were conducted on a dataset obtained from the Municipal Health Services in Utrecht. We examined whether ethnic minority adolescents are at risk for suicidal ideation because of a family background of migration, social-economic position and certain family factors, which influence psychological constellations. We found that levels of suicidal ideation among adolescents of Turkish background were significantly higher than in both majority and other minority adolescents, The Turkish adolescents at risk for suicidal ideation reported that they do not enjoy being at home with their families. Psychological factors, in particular lack of self-pride and the idea of not becoming successful in life, appeared to be important, as well as feelings of loneliness. Suicidal ideation was not found equally across all ethnic minority groups. A history of migration, ethnic minority status, or low socioeconomic status were not sufficient to explain the variation across ethnicities. Our results suggest that specific social-cultural factors, contextualized in the individual and located in the family environment, are relevant in explaining the disproportionate rates for Turkish adolescents in Utrecht.