An estimated 16% of young people had seriously thought about ending their own life in the 12 months prior to the survey. Significantly fewer males had had suicidal thoughts (12%) compared with females (20%).
Of the estimated 1,420 Aboriginal young people who had seriously thought about ending their own life in the 12 months prior to the survey, 39% had attempted suicide in the same period. This finding is similar to the rate of suicide attempts in the general population of young people aged 12 to 16 years found in the 1993 WA Child Health Survey.
- A lower proportion of males had seriously thought about ending their own life if they had high self-esteem (5%) than if they had low self-esteem (21%). While a similar trend was observed in females, it was not statistically significant.
- A higher proportion of young people at high risk of clinically significant emotional or behavioural difficulties had seriously thought about ending their own life (37%) compared with young people at low risk (10%).
- A higher proportion of young people who had been exposed to family violence had seriously thought about ending their own life (22%) compared with young people who had not been exposed to family violence (9%).
- A higher proportion of young people with friends or people known to them who had recently attempted suicide had themselves seriously thought about ending their own life (35%) compared with young people without any acquaintances who had recently attempted suicide (11%).
Last updated 5 September 2007
