Comparison of suicide attempts among nationally representative samples of Mexican adolescents 12 months before and after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: There is serious concern over the increase in mental health problems during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Methods: Based on data from two Mexican National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted in 2018-2019 and 2020 (n = 17,925 and 4,913, respectively), we estimated the prevalence of suicide attempts among adolescents 10-19 years old in the previous year. We constructed a multivariate logistic regression model adjusted by sociodemographic characteristics and contextual variables for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Results: The prevalence of suicide attempts in the previous year was similar in both surveys. We found that women, youth in urban localities and individuals living in households where a family member had lost her/his job as a result of the Covid-19 contingency were more likely to attempt suicide compared to their counterparts. On the other hand, attending classes online proved to be a protective factor (aOR=0.3, 95% CI=0.1, 0.8, p = 0.022).

Limitations: The principal limitation of our study concerned the restricted size of our sample for the 2020 survey wave.

Conclusions: Population-level policies aimed at providing economic protection and helping youth to return to school would exert a favorable impact on the mental health and suicidal behavior of youths.

Keywords: Adolescents, Covid-19; Suicide attempts.