Museum
Relationship with Suicide
| Related Studies | Suicide rate of adolescents in Hong Kong used to be lower than that in the other age groups. It has been on a rise continuously since the 80’s, and reached a historical peak in 2002. Among the adolescents who died from suicide, over 70% had suffered from at least one kind of mental disorders, including depression, behavioural problem, or drug abuse (Yip et al., 1998). Among form 4 to form 7 students with suicidal thoughts, those with depressive symptoms outnumbered those without by 1.85 times (Yip et al., 2003). |
| Associated Factors | Suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms among adolescents is much attributed to factors such as poor relationships with parents (lack of care and understanding), school pressure, and peer pressure. |
| Help-Seeking | Among the adolescents with serious psychological problems involving depression or suicidality, less than a tenth of them had been given any kind of counselling or social work support. If they were able to seek help earlier, many tragedies could probably have been avoided. |
| Life Threat | Past experiences have told us that negligence to and untreated depression could take one’s life. It must instead be taken with utmost seriousness. |
| References: | Yip, P.S.F., Ho, T..P., Hung, S.F., Laidler, K.J. & Leung, P.W.L. (eds), Youth Suicide in Hong Kong. Befrienders International: Hong Kong. Yip, P.S.F., Liu, K.Y., Lam, T.H., Sunita, M.S. & Chen, E. (2003). Suicidality among high school students in HKSAR. Centre for suicide research and prevention, The University of Hong Kong. |