Self-image
is linked to teens' risk of suicide
Tuesday, June 07, 2005 • BY
LINDSEY TANNER • Associated
Press
CHICAGO -- Suicidal impulses and attempts
are much more common in teenagers who think they are too fat
or too thin, regardless of how much they actually weigh, a
study found.
Using actual body size based on teens'
reports of their height and weight, the researchers found
that overall, overweight or underweight teens were only
slightly more likely than normal-weight teens to have
suicidal tendencies.
But teens who perceived themselves at
either weight extreme -- very fat or really skinny -- were
more than twice as likely as normal-weight teens to attempt
or think about suicide.
The study was based on a nationally
representative 2001 survey involving 13,601 students in
ninth through 12th grades. The findings appear in the June
issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine,
published yesterday.
About 19 percent said they had considered
suicide in the previous year and about 9 percent said they
had attempted it.
About 65 percent of students were in the
normal-weight range, but only about 54 percent perceived
themselves as "about the right weight." Some thought they
weighed too much; others thought they were too
thin.
"Suicide ideation was more likely even
among students whose perceptions of body size deviated only
slightly from 'about the right weight,'" said lead author
Danice Eaton, a researcher at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Because nearly half of the students
perceived themselves as too thin or too heavy, "these
results suggest that a sizable proportion of students may be
at increased risk" for suicide, the researchers
said.
Perceptions of being very overweight were
linked with an increased risk for suicide attempts among
whites. But black and Hispanic students who saw themselves
as being very overweight were no more likely to say they had
attempted suicide than blacks and Hispanics who thought they
were about the right weight.
The link between perceptions of being
very underweight and an increased risk for suicide attempts
existed for whites, blacks and Hispanics alike.
The study did not determine which came
first -- perceptions of extreme weight or suicidal
tendencies. But the results suggest that extreme weight
perceptions might be a suicide warning sign, the researchers
said.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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