Suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts among rural young Chinese: the effect of suicide death by a family member or friend.

Suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts have been found to be predictors of suicide. This study aims to estimate the suicidal behaviors in rural China. We studied 784 respondents as informants of suicide and 1,247 respondents as informants of community living controls, with the NCS-R measures on suicidal behaviors. The lifetime prevalence of ideation, plans, and attempts among the informants of suicide was 18.1, 4.1, and 1.7%, and the 12-month prevalence was 12.1, 2.2, and 0.4%, respectively. The prevalence scores were higher for the family members than for friends of suicide. The risk factors for suicidal behaviors include being parents or spouse of the suicide, female gender, low education level, and being never married. As suicidal behaviors are more observed among those who have a suicide death in the family or among close friends, suicide screening and intervention efforts should be focused on this type of population.