CHENNAI: Suicides among adolescents spike during May and June, which coincides with the examination season in schools, says a study conducted by the Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM) along with LEAD at Krea University.
The study also stressed on a modified model to understand the different aspects of suicide in teenagers (aged between 10 and 19) like difficulties in decision-making, which are not covered in the existing models. It also advocated bridging the suicide data gap and cited that AI/machine learning can help in identifying the combination of various factors and the depth of the risks.
A webinar to discuss the study was conducted on Saturday. The study, which looked into 17 published journal articles and 150 news reports between 2008 and 2022, found that the suicides among teenagers increased between May and June, which coincides with the examination time in the schools. It also showed a spike from September to October. The panellists also mentioned social media usage as a risk factor. The other risk factors identified in the study include gender (female), age (16-19 years), poor academic performance, history of abuse, poor social support network among others.
The existing integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviours talks about factors that influence suicidal behaviours in three phases—pre-motivational, motivational and volitional. However, it doesn’t take into consideration what goes into their decision-making process. Founder of Sneha, a suicide prevention organisation, Dr Lakshmy Vijayakumar and president of International Suicide Prevention Rory O Connor are working on a modified model, which takes into consideration the shortcomings in the existing one.
“Suicide among adolescents requires a multi-faceted approach. Interventions can have multiple layers such as those directly addressing the risk factors like improving support systems and training peers to offer support among others. Apart from this, some effort to improve the resilience and mental health of adolescents using training programmes are also required,” said Aishwarya Ramesh, senior research associate at BALM who was part of the study.