Suicide Attempts Among In-School Adolescents in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated suicide attempts among in-school adolescents in Enugu state, Nigeria. A descriptive research design was used to conduct the study. Two research questions were posed to guide the study while two null hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The population for the study was 149,028 in-school adolescents in secondary schools owned by the Enugu State Government. The 2,112 sample of adolescents was selected through a multistage sampling procedure. The structured questionnaire (I-SASAQ) that was utilized to generate data for the study was validated by five experts. The I-SASAQ reliability was determined using the split-half method. The reliability index of 0.80 was obtained using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and its internal consistency of 0.69 was established using Cronbach’s Alpha. Mean and standard deviation were utilized to answer the research questions whereas z-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings showed that suicide attempt was low (male x̅=1.15; SD=0.50: female x̅=1.10; SD=0.32) among in-school adolescents in Enugu state. Results also indicated that respondents aged 12-14 had a grand mean rating of 1.10 and SD of 0.43 while older adolescents aged 15-17 had a grand mean rating of 1.13 and SD of 0.53. z-test indicated that gender (p-val=0.000< .05 level of significance) made a statistically significant difference in suicide attempts among the respondents. In the same vein, age made a statistically significant difference in suicide attempts among the studied group (p-val=0.030 < 0.05 level of significance). Based on the results, it was recommended that suicide attempts be de-criminalized in Nigeria generally, to enable such victims to seek health care services without restraint and thus reduce disability and fatality following the suicidal act.