High suicide rates among unaccompanied Minors/Youth seeking asylum in Sweden
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Abstract. Background and aim: We aimed to assess rates and background factors of suicide among unaccompanied minors/youth (10–21 years of age) seeking asylum in Sweden in 2017, and to compare these rates with rates in the Swedish general population of the same age. Method: Data were collected and validated using information from four governmental agencies and two nongovernmental organizations. Suicide rates were calculated for 100,000 individuals. Results: The suicide rate was 51.2 per 100,000 among unaccompanied minors/youth, which compares to 6.1 per 100,000 in the host population. Characteristics of asylum seekers who died by suicide were: male gender (100%) and from Afghanistan (83%). Hanging was the predominant method (60%). Limitations: As estimation of an exact population of asylum seekers is difficult; we overestimated the number of individuals in the population of asylum seekers, resulting in an underestimation of their suicide rates. Conclusion: The suicide rate in unaccompanied minors/youth seeking asylum in 2017 in Sweden can be regarded as very high. Rapid implementation of suicide preventive measures is warranted.
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Rates of suicide were nine times higher among unaccompanied refugee youth, mainly Afghans, in Sweden, compared to the general population.
“a recent study found rates of suicide nine times higher among unaccompanied refugee youth, mainly Afghans, in Sweden, compared to the general population (Mittendorfer-Rutz et al., 2020).”
From Investigating the potential of a novel internet-based cognitive behavioural intervention for Dari and Farsi speaking refugee youth: A feasibility study (2022) · cites this paper as Mittendorfer-Rutz et al., 2020
The Results report 51.2 suicides per 100,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking youth versus 6.1 in the same-age host population in Sweden in 2017, describing the rate as eight times higher, not nine. The Background Factors section says 83% of those who died were from Afghanistan; it does not establish that most youth in the study population were Afghan. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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- Authors
- Mittendorfer-Rutz, E., Hagström, A., & Hollander, A.-C.
- Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Region Stockholm (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Hollander, Anna-Clara
- Venue
- Crisis
- Publisher
- Hogrefe Publishing Group
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 314-317
- ISSN
- 0227-5910 (ISSN-L)
- 2151-2396
- PMC
- PMC8208293
- OpenAlex
- W2995331959
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 5.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Crisis (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Socialstyrelsen
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Keywords
- suicide, unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers, youth, suicide rates, hanging, Afghan refugees, suicide prevention, Sweden
- MeSH terms
- Harassment, Non-Sexual, Adolescent, Afghanistan, Child, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Male, Poverty, Refugees, Suicide, Sweden, Violence, Sex Distribution, Young Adult
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