摘要：Objectives. We analyzed Rhode Island's 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data to investigate suicide patterns and their association with suicide risk predictors among public high school students. Methods. We used latent class regression analysis of Rhode Island's 2007 YRBS data (from a random sample of 2210 public high school students) to model latent classes of suicide risk and identify predictors of latent class membership. Results. Four latent classes of suicide risk were modeled and predictors were associated with each: class 1 (emotionally healthy, 74%); class 2 (considered and planned suicide, 14%) was associated with being female, having low grades, being gay/lesbian/bisexual/unsure, feeling unsafe at school, having experienced forced sexual intercourse, and self-perceived overweight; class 3 (attempted suicide, 6%) was associated with speaking a language other than English at home, being gay/lesbian/bisexual/unsure, feeling unsafe at school, and forced sexual intercourse; and class 4 (planned and attempted suicide, 6%) was associated with the previously mentioned predictors and with being in 9th or 10th grade and currently smoking. Conclusions. A single model characterized and quantified 4 patterns of suicide risk among adolescents and identified predictors for 3 at-risk classes. Interventions for high-risk youths may help prevent adolescent suicides. Suicide by youths is devastating for families and communities and represents a significant and preventable loss of life. In the United States, 12% of all deaths among youths and young adults aged 10 to 24 years result from suicide 1 ; suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adolescents. 2 The 2007 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) found that 28.5% of high school students reported sad or hopeless feelings, 14.5% had seriously considered attempting suicide, 11.3% had made a plan about suicide, 6.9% had attempted suicide, and 2.0% had attempted a suicide that resulted in an injury needing treatment by a doctor or nurse. 1 Attempts are much more common than completed suicides among youths by a ratio of as much as 150 to 1. 3 Reducing the adolescent suicide attempt rate is one of the Healthy People 2010 objectives.4 To meet this objective, it will be necessary to increase public awareness of adolescent suicide and risk factors, identify at-risk youths, and provide appropriate mental health services to them. Researchers use a variety of indicators to assess suicide risk. Many published papers have examined relationships between specific suicide indicators and various predictors by using multiple logistic regression models. 5 – 7 Results overlap considerably across these single-indicator models, and individual suicide indicators are often correlated with one another. We sought a single model that would combine results of the individual suicide models. Building on our previous analysis of suicide indicators for Rhode Island public high school students, we also hoped to answer these questions: Is it possible to characterize patterns of suicide-related behavior in this population? Can we quantify the percentage of each pattern? What are the predictors of different patterns of suicide risk? To explore these questions and develop a single model, we applied latent class regression modeling with 5 suicide indicators from Rhode Island's 2007 YRBS.
