CHILD SUICIDE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC FROM 2002-2009

Dominika Průchová
University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Social Work Institute, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Korespondenční autor: Dominika Průchová (dpruchova@seznam.cz)

ISSN 1804-7181 (On-line)

Full verze:

Submitted:23. 9. 2011
Accepted: 19. 10. 2011
Published online: 15. 12. 2011

Summary

In recent years, the suicide rate among children and adolescents has been increasing. Seen over the long term, the overall suicide rate in the Czech Republic has been decreasing since the 1970s, while during the last ten years we can see that the number of suicide cases among juveniles has been increasing. The epidemiology of suicidal behaviour is a significant indicator of the health condition of the population. There are numerous risk factors in terms of child suicide: demographic, family-related, cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and neurobiological, along with other factors such as the environment, psychiatric disease, aggression, impulsiveness or frustration.

The aim of the research was to analyse the data related to child suicide in the age group from 0 to 18 years of age (according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child), to sort out the collected data by specific criteria, and statistically evaluate the relationships between the variables.

The research method was secondary analysis of data obtained from the database of child suicide maintained by the Police of the Czech Republic, data available without informed consent. The subjects of the research were children aged 0 to 18 years. The research set comprised a total of 318 children from the Czech Republic, who committed suicide during the period 2002–2009. The data was statistically processed using the SPSS program, evaluated by means of the chi-quadrate test and Fisher’s exact test at the level p<0.05.

In total, 237 boys (74.5%) and 81 girls (25.5%) committed suicide. The youngest child who committed suicide during the examined period was an eight-year-old boy. The number of suicide cases increases at the age of 13. Most children commit suicide at the age of 18, which is applicable for both genders. The research shows statistically significant dependence between certain variables.

Keywords: child suicide; risk factors; the motive for suicide; the method of suicide

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