Comparison of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people in care and non-care populations: Systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence
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Suicide in children and young people is a major public health concern. However, it is unknown whether individuals who have been in the care of the child welfare system are at an elevated risk. Care is presently defined as statutory provision of in-home care (e.g. child living with birth family but in receipt of legal order involving supervision by social workers) or out-of-home care (e.g. foster care, residential care and kinship care). This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and suicide in children and young people placed in care with non-care populations. A systematic search was conducted of 14 electronic bibliographic databases and 32 websites. Of 2811 unique articles identified, five studies published between 2001 and 2011 met the inclusion criteria. Studies reported on 2448 incidents of suicidal ideation, 3456 attempted suicides and 250 suicides. The estimated prevalence of suicidal ideation was 24.7% in children and young people in care compared to 11.4% in non-care populations. The prevalence of suicide attempt was 3.6% compared to 0.8%. Two studies reported on suicide. Suicide risk in children and young people in care was lower in one study (0% vs 0.9%) and higher in the second (0.27% vs 0.06%). The results of the systematic review and meta-analysis confirm that suicide attempts are more than three times as likely in children and young people placed in care compared to non-care populations. Targeted interventions to prevent or reduce suicide attempt in this population may be required. Further comparative studies are needed to establish if children and young people in care are at an elevated risk of suicidal ideation and suicide.
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Care-experienced children and young people are at increased risk of suicide attempts.
“and suicide attempts (Evans et al., 2017)”
From Effectiveness of Mental Health and Wellbeing Interventions for Children and Young People in Foster, Kinship, and Residential Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Evans et al., 2017
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Suicide and Suicide Risk in Adolescents
Hua, L. L., Lee, J., Rahmandar, M. H., Sigel, E. J., COMMITTEE ON ADOLESCENCE, & COUNCIL ON INJURY, V. (2024) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2023-064800 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
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“Suicide attempt and ideation are estimated to occur in around 1% and 11% of community-based young people each year, respectively [6], while suicide mortality occurs in less than 0.”
BackgroundTrubey, R., Evans, R., McDonald, S., Noyes, J., Robling, M., Willis, S., Boffey, M., Wooders, C., Vinnicombe, S., & Melendez-Torres, G. J. (2024) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380241227987 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“They have a higher rate of diagnosable mental health problems when compared to non-care-experienced samples (Dubois-Comtois et al., 2021; Engler et al., 2022; Seker et al., 2021), and are at increased risk of poor subjective wellbeing (Long et al., 2017) and suicide attempts (Evans et al., 2017).”
Self-citationAyer, L., Ohana, E., Ivanova, M. Y., Frering, H. E., Achenbach, T. M., & Althoff, R. R. (2024) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2023.11.012 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Evans, R., White, J., Turley, R., Slater, T., Morgan, H., Strange, H., & Scourfield, J.
- Affiliations
- Cardiff University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Evans, Rhiannon
- Venue
- Children and Youth Services Review
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-11
- Volume
- 82
- Pages
- 122-129
- ISSN
- 0190-7409 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2756292669
- Cited by
- 180
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 1.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Children and Youth Services Review (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (acceptedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (SCF-14-09)
- British Heart Foundation
- Cancer Research UK
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES-590-28-0005)
- Medical Research Council
- Welsh Government
- Wellcome Trust (WT087640MA)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, suicide, children and young people, child welfare system, out-of-home care, foster care, residential care, kinship care, home care, suicide risk, prevalence, suicide prevention
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