AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC AND CLINICAL APPROACH TO ADOLESCENT SUICIDE - A COMPARISON BETWEEN SUICIDAL AND NONSUICIDAL CLINICAL GROUPS IN A HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR FRENCH STUDENTS

Suicidal behaviour among young people represents a major public health problem. This study seeks to compare the major sociological, clinical , schooling and family features of suicidal and non-suicidal subgroups of adolescents hospitalised in the Health Foundation Center for Frenc h Students of Neufmoutiers en Brie (France). All these adolescents suf fered from the severe mental disorders. The adolescents from the suici dal subgroup presented significantly fewer psychoses and more mood dis orders than those of the non-suicidal subgroup. Half of the patients f rom the suicidal subgroup presented some features of personality disor ders, mostly borderline personality disorders. Nevertheless, their glo bal functioning was more frequently improved between admission and dis charge than was the case for the non-suicidal group.