Self-reported suicide attempts and exposure to different types of violence and neglect during childhood: Findings from a young adult population survey in Latvia

Aims: Suicide rates in Latvia are among the highest in the EU. Among 18–25 year-old young adults, it is the second leading cause of death. This study investigates the prevalence of self-reported suicide attempts in young adults and examines its association with neglect or violence of a physical, emotional or sexual nature. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 1259 young adults 18–25 years of age, selected by targeted quota sampling from secondary and vocational schools. Results: The prevalence of self-reported suicide attempts was 6.1%. Physical and emotional adverse experiences showed clear associations with attempted suicide. Although prevalence of reported physical neglect was higher than for physical violence (27.0% versus 16.3%, respectively) the latter posed a higher risk for attempted suicide (OR = 4.0; 95% CI, 2.4–6.6). Conversely, emotional violence had a higher prevalence than emotional neglect (31.5% vs. 23.6%, respectively), but neglect showed a stronger association with attempted suicide (OR = 4.4; 95% CI, 2.6–7.3). Conclusions: The high OR for attempted suicide associated with emotional neglect, together with findings that emotional violence had the highest prevalence, and that emotional neglect and emotional violence showed the highest population attributable risk fraction (PopAR%) of 46.8 and 40.4, respectively, suggested that emotional factors merit special attention in further investigations of attempted suicide among young adults in Latvia. The targeted quota sampling method from five cities representing all regions of Latvia and 43.8% of its population, ensure national relevance of our findings for policy and program development by legislative, educational and public health institutions.