Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:55:43.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The men’s mental health perspective on adolescent suicide in the COVID-19 era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2021

Timothy Rice Open the ORCID record for Timothy Rice [Opens in a new window]  and
Leo Sher Open the ORCID record for Leo Sher [Opens in a new window]
Timothy Rice*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Leo Sher
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Timothy Rice, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed society and introduced many new factors to consider in adolescent suicide risk assessment and prevention. One complexity that warrants consideration is the male-specific impacts of the pandemic within adolescence.

Methods:

A review of the relevant literature.

Results:

Matters of social distancing, virtual education, and substance use may impact adolescent men in fashions that raise their suicide risk more significantly relative to adolescent women. Social distancing may impact adolescents’ friendships and generate a regression back to the nuclear family; qualities of male adolescents’ friendships and of masculinity suggest that these impacts may be more severe in adolescent men and may directly raise suicide risk. Virtual schooling yields educational and social setbacks; losses of team sports, male mentors, and the implications of diminished educational advancement may more adversely affect adolescent men and raise risk. Substance use has increased in the pandemic, particularly amongst adolescent men. There are direct associations with suicide risk as well as indirectly through increased parental conflict and punishment.

Conclusion:

As adolescent men die by suicide at significantly elevated rates relative to adolescent women, a male-specific consideration of these impacts is indicated to address adolescent suicide in our current era. Recommendations are made for integrating these considerations into updated adolescent suicide risk assessment and prevention efforts.

Keywords

adolescentsuicideCOVID-19individuationsubstance-related disorders
Type
Perspective
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , August 2021 , pp. 178 - 181
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beaty, LA (1995) Effects of paternal absence on male adolescents’ peer relations and self-image. Adolescence 30(120), 873–880.Google ScholarPubMed
Bjorkenstam, C, Weitoft, GR, Hjern, A, Nordstrom, P, Hallqvist, J and Ljung, R (2011) School grades, parental education and suicide--a national register-based cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 65(11), 993–998.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, E, Ferdig, R and Thompson, LA (2021) K-12 virtual schooling, COVID-19, and student success. JAMA Pediatrics 175(2), 119–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blos, P (1967) The second individuation process of adolescence. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 22(1), 162–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, AM (2020) An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: strengthening community collaborations to save lives. Forensic Science International: Reports 2, 100089.Google Scholar
Campisi, SC, Carducci, B, Akseer, N, Zasowski, C, Szatmari, P and Bhutta, ZA (2020) Suicidal behaviours among adolescents from 90 countries: a pooled analysis of the global school-based student health survey. BMC Public Health 20(1), 1102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Available at https://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html (accessed 23 June 2020).Google Scholar
Clemens, V, Deschamps, P, Fegert, JM, Anagnostopoulos, D, Bailey, S, Doyle, M, Eliez, S, Hansen, AS, Hebebrand, J, Hillegers, M, Jacobs, B, Karwautz, A, Kiss, E, Kotsis, K, Kumperscak, HG, Pejovic-Milovancevic, M, Christensen, AMR, Raynaud, J-P, Westerinen, H and Visnapuu-Bernadt, P (2020) Potential effects of ‘social’ distancing measures and school lockdown on child and adolescent mental health. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 29(6), 739–742.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coleman, D (2015) Traditional masculinity as a risk factor for suicidal ideation: cross-sectional and prospective evidence from a study of young adults. Archives of Suicide Research 19(3), 366–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dumas, TM, Ellis, W and Litt, DM (2020) “What does adolescent substance use look like during the COVID-19 pandemic? examining changes in frequency, social contexts, and pandemic-related predictors. Journal of Adolescent Health 67(3), 354–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dwairy, M and Achoui, M (2010) Adolescents-family connectedness: a first cross-cultural research on parenting and psychological adjustment of children. Journal of Child and Family Studies 19(1), 8–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzpatrick, BR, Berends, M, Ferrare, JJ and Waddington, RJ (2020) Virtual illusion: comparing student achievement and teacher and classroom characteristics in online and brick-and-mortar charter schools. Educational Researcher 49(3), 161–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmore, KJ and Meersand, P (2014) The Little Book of Child and Adolescent Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoeben, EM and Weerman, FM (2016) Why is involvement in unstructured socializing related to adolescent delinquency?. Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 54(2), 242–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoekstra, PJ (2020) Suicidality in children and adolescents: lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 crisis. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 29(6), 737–738.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, KM, Vivolo-Kantor, AM, Logan, JE and Leemis, RW (2017) Antecedents of suicide among youth aged 11–15: a multistate mixed methods analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 46(7), 1598–1610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurd, N and Zimmerman, M (2010) Natural mentors, mental health, and risk behaviors: a longitudinal analysis of African American adolescents transitioning into adulthood. American Journal of Community Psychology 46(1–2), 36–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Husky, MM, Olfson, M, He, J, Nock, MK, Swanson, SA and Merikangas, KR (2012) Twelve-month suicidal symptoms and use of services among adolescents: results from the national comorbidity survey. Psychiatric Services 63(10), 989–996.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isumi, A, Doi, S, Yamaoka, Y, Takahashi, K and Fujiwara, T (2020) Do suicide rates in children and adolescents change during school closure in Japan? The acute effect of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on child and adolescent mental health. Child Abuse & Neglect 110, 104680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ju, YJ, Kim, W, Oh, SS and Park, E-C (2019) Solitary drinking and the risk of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in college students: findings from a nationwide survey in Korea. Journal of Affective Disorders 257, 710–715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kågesten, A, Gibbs, S, Blum, RW, Moreau, C, Chandra-Mouli, V, Herbert, A and Amin, A (2016) Understanding factors that shape gender attitudes in early adolescence globally: a mixed-methods systematic review. PLos One 11(6), e0157805.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miranda-Mendizabal, A, Castellví, P, Parés-Badell, O, Alayo, I, Almenara, J, Alonso, I, Blasco, MJ, Cebrià, A, Gabilondo, A, Gili, M, Lagares, C, Piqueras, JA, Rodríguez-Jiménez, T, Rodríguez-Marín, J, Roca, M, Soto-Sanz, V, Vilagut, G. and Alonso, J 2019) Gender differences in suicidal behavior in adolescents and young adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. International Journal of Public Health 64(2), 265–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orben, A, Tomova, L and Blakemore, S-J (2020) The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health 4(8), 634–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollard, MS, Tucker, JS and Green, HD (2020) Changes in Adult alcohol use and consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. JAMA Network Open 3(9), e2022942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rasmussen, ML, Haavind, H and Dieserud, G (2018) Young men, masculinities, and suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 22(2), 327–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roh, B-R, Jung, EH and Hong, HJ (2018) A comparative study of suicide rates among 10–19-year-olds in 29 OECD countries. Psychiatry Investigation 15(4), 376–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, LB (1986) On men and friendship. Psychoanalytic Review 73(2), 165–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Shain, B (2016) Suicide and suicide attempts in adolescents. Pediatrics 138(1), e20161420–e20161420.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shapiro, T (2008) Masturbation, sexuality, and adaptation: normalization in adolescence. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 56(1), 123–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sigman, A (2020) Covid-19 and alcohol: parental drinking influences the next generation. BMJ 369, m2525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szlyk, HS, Berk, M, Peralta, AO and Miranda, R (2020) COVID-19 takes adolescent suicide prevention to less charted territory. Journal of Adolescent Health 67(2), 161–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, MP, Ho, C and Kingree, JB (2007) Prospective associations between delinquency and suicidal behaviors in a nationally representative sample. Journal of Adolescent Health 40(3), 232–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, P-W and Yen, C-F (2017) Adolescent substance use behavior and suicidal behavior for boys and girls: a cross-sectional study by latent analysis approach. BMC Psychiatry 17(1), 392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2017) Preventing suicide: A resource for media professionals. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar