Abstract Objectives: Suicide is still one of the leading causes of youth mortality, and amongst others previous suicide attempts have been found to be one of the strongest risk factors for suicide. The objective of this study is to examine risk factors of suicide attempts in a total population of Faroese adolescents. It is expected that anxious attachment, high scores on negative affectivity and low scores on past and present social support were correlated to an increased risk of life-time suicide attempts in both female and male adolescents. Method: Analyses were conducted based on data from The Faroese Adolescent Trauma Study, a self-report questionnaire survey including a total population of Faroese eighth graders (N = 687; 85 % response rate, mean age 14.2 years, SD = 2.1). The questionnaire included The Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), The Trauma Symptom Checklist (TSC), and The Crisis Support Scale (CSS). Results: In the total population 9.9 % (N = 68) of the participants reported life-time suicide attempt; of those 28 % were boys and 72 % were girls. In line with the expectations, the initial comparison showed that adolescents reporting life-time suicide attempt had significantly higher scores on attachment anxiety and negative affectivity, and had significantly lower scores on attachment closeness, and both past and present social support. Further analyses stratified on gender, however, revealed unexpected results, as a high score on negative affectivity only was a significant risk factor for life-time suicide attempt among the girls, and high score on attachment closeness only was a significant protective factor of life-time suicide attempt among the boys. Conclusions: This study provides important data about the role of attachment, negative affectivity, and social support in suicide attempts in a total population of Faroese adolescents. Moreover the results show the necessity of taking gender into account in research of risk and protective factors of suicide attempts, and when establishing arrangements to prevent and treat suicide attempts in adolescents.

Studies of possible variables influencing development of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) are of great importance in the effort to enhance preventive and interventional methods in the aim to prevail this devastating condition. Despite the vast research in adults, little is still known of adolescents. Although research is scarce, attachment style has been identified to be an influencing factor in adults, and still research in adolescent is almost non-existent. To our knowledge, no prior study has been conducted, looking at the relationship between attachment style, exposure to a broad range of potentially traumatic events, and subsequent PTSD symptoms in a cross cultural perspective. This is the aim of the present study. Procedure: Data was collected from questionnaire surveys of 1283 adolescents (mean age 14.1 years). Measures: PTSD was measured with The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Part IV (HTQ); and attachment style was studied using the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS). Potentially traumatic events were examined using a broad event list of 19 events. Results: Contrary to what was expected, significant cross cultural differences were found in the distribution of securely, preoccupied, and dismissive attached. Around half of the Faroese population was securely attached, contrary to the Danish and Icelandic population, where the majority was dismissive attached. Cross cultural differences were also found in the distribution of attachment style among those adolescents with PTSD. The majority of the Danish adolescent population with PTSD was dismissive attached; the majority of the Faroese adolescent population with PTSD was securely attached, and in the Icelandic adolescents with PTSD were distributed somewhat even between the four attachment styles. Finally, cross cultural differences were identified in which potentially traumatic events had a significant contribution to the variation in PTSD. The results are discussed and clinical recommendations are presented.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify naturally occurring typologies of Faroese adolescents on the basis of their exposure to traumatic and negative life events. It was hypothesized that underlying typologies of trauma and negative life events would be uncovered. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that males would be overrepresented in classes characterized by the endorsement of a wide range of trauma and negative life events. On the basis of prior research, it was also hypothesized that females had endorsed more traumas of a sexual nature and that males had endorsed more traumas of a violent nature. Finally, post-traumatic stress, negative affectivity, and somatization were examined in the different typologies.Methods: Latent class analyses were conducted with the use of data collected from a self-report questionnaire survey from 687 Faroese eighth graders (85% response rate). The questionnaire included a traumatic and negative life event list, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire-Part IV, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist.Results: Three classes of adolescents were identified on the basis of their exposure to potentially traumatic and negative life events. The baseline class (81.3%) had a low probability of the endorsement of all potentially traumatic and negative life events, except threats of violence and bullying. This group had low scores for post-traumatic symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Class 2 (13.7%) comprised mainly males and had the highest probability of endorsement of threats of violence, physical assault, and bullying; this group also had high scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Finally, Class 1 (5.0%) consisted of adolescents with a relatively high risk of exposure to all potentially traumatic events and negative life events, except threats of violence. This group had the highest scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization.Conclusions: The present study can be said to be a concise picture of trauma exposure and its consequences among Faroese adolescents, and it is thereby a valuable tool for the national planning of preventive and interventional strategies and for empirically founded economic prioritization. These results emphasize the importance of choosing a trauma-informed strategy in various disciplines, such as pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, and school psychology when the aim is to provide the appropriate intervention.

The prevalence of twenty traumatic events and negative life events in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in a Faroese total-population sample of 687 eighth-grade students with a mean age of 14.2 years. Ninety-four percent of the females and 89% of the males were directly exposed to or had witnessed at least one traumatic event or a negative life event. The odds ratios for PTSD after direct and indirect exposure to specific events are described. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 20%, whereas another 14% reached a subclinical level of PTSD. After exposure, females had PTSD more than twice as often as males. Being exposed to multiple traumatic events, living with a single parent, and having experienced a traumatic event or a negative life event within the last year were all associated with PTSD and its subscales.

BACKGROUND:Although studies indicate that adolescents, like adults, might develop posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to traumatic events, the research on this age group is still sparse.METHOD:In three national representative samples and one national total sample of 1,206 8th and 9th-grade students with a mean age of 14.5 years, the prevalence of 19 potential traumatizing and distressing events were reported, along with the psychological impact of these events.FINDINGS:Ninety percent of the adolescents had been exposed to at least one event. The most common events were the death of a family member, threat of violence, bullying, near-drowning, and traffic accidents. Gender was associated with specific events. The estimated lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the total sample was 14.6 percent, whereas another 13 percent reached a subclinical level of PTSD. Following exposure, females suffered from PTSD two and a half times more often than males. The relative risk for PTSD given a specific event is described. Being exposed to multiple traumatic events was associated with an increase in PTSD. Cultural differences were found in prevalence of PTSD, exposure to specific events and in the female male ratio in PTSD.CONCLUSION:The findings indicate substantial mental health problems in adolescents that are associated with various types of victimization.