LONGITUDINAL EXPLORATORY STUDY ON PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SUICIDAL BEHAVIORS ADMITTED TO PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Background The suicide among young people, is one of the leading causes of death, with a large difference in mortality levels between boys and girls. Nearly 46,000 adolescents die from suicide every year. The rate of deaths by suicide in Italy is 2.3 (3.1 for males and 1.5 for females) for children aged between 15 and 19. Mood disorders, such as major depression and bipolar disorder, can significantly increase the risk of suicidal behaviors. Personality can also play a role in suicide risk. Individual's personality traits can influence how they respond to stress, adversity, and emotional challenges, which can in turn affect their risk of suicide. We deep investigated the pathological personality traits of adolescents with suicidal behaviors. Methods The sample analyzed in this study includes 78 adolescents and pre-adolescents admitted to the pediatric emergency room of Pediatric ward (Hospital S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine). All the subjects involved in the study were visiting the emergency room for the first time for suicidal behavior. The instrument used were: K-SADS-PL (psychopathology), PID-5, SCID-5-PD (personality), C-SSRS, MIS (suicidality). Subjects were analyzed in three different moments T0, T1 after 2/3 months and T2 after 6/7 months. Results The sample studied is mainly composed of female people (80,8% of the sample), with an average age of 15 (SD 1,07). 50% have exhibited suicidal behavior and 50% have been known to have significant suicidal ideation. Following the first evaluation, 50% of subjects were hospitalized, 37,2% were subjected to observation in the emergency room, while 12,8% were discharged with scheduled multi-week outpatient visits. Following the in-depth psycho diagnostic examination, 52,6% began pharmacological therapy and 83,3% psychotherapy. Finally, the 26,9% of subjects involved in study had already been known or followed at the Neuropsychiatry department. At follow up motivational suicidality psychache (MIS) correlate with anedhonia, depressivity, distractibility, irresponsibility, withdrawal, detachment and disinhibition; Pessimism (MIS) correlate with depressivity, irresponsibility, risk taking, withdrawal and disinhibition. Conclusions Our results, in spite of being constrained by a sample size that precludes generalizing certain findings, showed that the in-depth analysis of adolescent’s personality traits can contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of suicide. It is necessary to expand the reference sample to identify which dimensional variables more accurately predict suicide risk. Furthermore, the opportunity to delve into personality aspects can aid in identifying early therapeutic interventions.