Risk Factors Associated with Overdose Among Bahraini Youth

• Published in: Suicide & life-threatening behavior Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 197 - 206
• Main Authors: Al Ansari, Ahmed M., Hamadeh, Randah R., Matar, Ali M., Marhoon, Huda, Buzaboon, Bana Y., Raees, Ahmed G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2001; Guilford
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Arabs - psychology; Bahrain; Biological and medical sciences; Children & youth; Control Groups; Cultural Influences; Depression (Psychology); Drinking; Drug overdose; Drug Overdose - ethnology; Drug Overdose - psychology; Drug Use; Family Characteristics; Family Environment; Family Relations; Female; Foreign Countries; Health risk assessment; Humans; Life Change Events; Male; Medical sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - ethnology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Peer Relationship; Personality Traits; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Saudi Arabia; Social Influences; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - ethnology; Suicide, Attempted - prevention & control; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Suicides & suicide attempts; Young Adults; Bahrain; Asia; Saudi Arabia; Human; Social environment; Drug; Peer relation; Social interaction; Cultural environment; Adolescent; Young adult; Risk factor; Family environment; Overdose; Suicide attempt
• ISSN: 0363-0234; 1943-278X
• DOI: 10.1521/suli.31.2.197.21517

The aim of this study was to identify the risk factors of overdose among Bahraini youth (15–24 years). These factors included psychiatric disorders, family pathology, and psychosocial stress. All suicide attempters in the country during an 18‐month period (N = 100) were identified prospectively. One hospital‐matched control was selected for each case. Both cases and controls underwent a semistructured personal interview in the two state general hospitals. A matched pair analysis was done, as well as computation of McNemar's continuity corrected chi‐square test, odds ratio, and the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio. The overdose attempter was more likely than the control to be unemployed, a member of a non‐intact family, having a mother whose education was high school or above, not having a friend, involved in a boy/girlfriend relationship, and a cigarette smoker. More students among attempters had failed an examination in the past year than matched controls. Father's education, social class, death of father, recent row with a friend, use of drugs and alcohol, relationship with teachers, recent mobility, financial difficulties, and legal problems were similar in both groups. Stresses generated from living in a non‐intact family, interpersonal relationships mainly with the opposite sex, unemployment, and school performance came out as the main risk factors. The association of previously identified risk factors such as depression, aggressive behavior, and use of drug and alcohol was low among attempters. While the results of this study are consistent with the present view that suicidal behaviors are multifactorial in origin, the magnitude and effect of each factor are culturally determined.