TO WHAT EXTENT CAN ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTS BE ATTRIBUTED TO VIOLENCE EXPOSURE? A POPULATION-BASED STUDY FROM WESTERN CANADA.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in Canada and globally. The purpose of our study was to calculate what proportion of adolescent suicide attempts could be prevented in the absence of verbal, physical and sexual violence. Using the province-wide 2008 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (N=29,315) we calculated population-attributable fractions for each type of violence, as well as exposure to any violence, separately by gender, among adolescents age 12-19. We found violence victimization is implicated in the majority of suicide attempts. Focusing on violence prevention may be an important strategy for reducing suicide among young people.