Mental Health
Suicidality and Major Depressive Episode among Young Adults Aged 18 to 25 Iva Magas* Iva Magas Samantha Brown Jennifer Hoenig
Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults aged 18 to 25 and a major public health concern. This study’s main objective was to examine the relationship between suicidal behavior, major depressive episode (MDE) and gender among young adults 18 to 25 in the U.S.
Methods: Data from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) were analyzed. The population included 33,600 young adults aged 18 to 25. Data were stratified by gender and associations with suicidal ideations were analyzed using the χ2 test, overall and among young adults with MDE. Respondents were asked whether they had seriously thought, planned, or attempted to kill themselves in the past 12 months. The MDE was defined using DSM-5 criteria.
Results: The prevalence of suicidal thoughts (15.9% vs. 11.2%), plans (6.1% vs. 4.1%), and attempts (3.1% vs. 1.8%) was significantly higher among young adult females aged 18 to 25 than males in this age group (p<0.001). Young adult females were also more likely to have higher prevalence of MDE compared to males aged 18 to 25 (25.4% vs. 14.0%; p<0.001). In line with previous studies, our analyses show suicidal behaviors are far more common among those with MDE. Moreover, 43.6% of young adults aged 18 to 25 with an MDE had suicidal thoughts, 17.7% suicide plans, and 8.3% have attempted suicide during the 2021-2022 survey years. No gender differences in suicidal behaviors among young adults who experienced an MDE in the past year was found.
Conclusions: While gender differences were found for MDE and suicidality respectively, no gender differences were found for suicidality among young adults with MDE. This finding further highlights the nuanced and complex nature of suicidality. Further research is needed to better understand if the severity of MDE mediates the association between gender and suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.