J Korean Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry.  2021 Jul;32(3):104-111. 10.5765/jkacap.210004.

Significant Domains of Life Satisfaction That Affect Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents

• Kim JS
• Choi SH
• Lee SE
• Lee CW
• Kim WH
• Bae JN
• Lee JS
• Maeng S
• Son J
• Kim H

• KMID: 2516959
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5765/jkacap.210004

Abstract

Objectives
Adolescent suicide is a serious national issue in Korea. Recently, life satisfaction has been recognized as a major factor related to this issue. The main purpose of this study was to identify the domains of life satisfaction that affect suicidal behavior in adolescence.
Methods
Data were collected from eight middle schools in Incheon, Korea. A total of 1297 students answered questions regarding their demographic characteristics, happiness, self-related life satisfaction domains (appearance, leisure time, physical health, and mental health), depressive symptoms, and suicidal behavior.
Results
In the Spearman correlation analysis, female sex, perceived socioeconomic status (SES), happiness, and all four self-related satisfaction scores showed significant correlations with depression and suicidality. Multivariate regression analysis suggested that suicidality was significantly affected by perceived SES, satisfaction with appearance, mental health satisfaction, and depression. Finally, depression was identified as a partial mediator of the association between mental health satisfaction and suicidality, and a complete mediator of the association between female sex and suicidality.
Conclusion
Perceived SES, satisfaction with appearance, and mental health satisfaction significantly affected students’ suicidality, with or without the effect of depression. Health authorities, educators, and family members must be aware of this to identify adolescents at suicide risk earlier.

Keyword

Suicide; Satisfaction; Physical appearance; Mental health; Depression; Adolescent