Association Between Suicidal Behaviour and Cannabis and Tranquilizer use, Depression, Aggression and Other Borderline Personality Traits Among Students in Sincelejo, Colombia

Abstract

Objective

This objective of this study is to examine the association between suicidal behaviour and substance use, depression, aggressiveness and borderline personality traits among adolescents from Sincelejo, a rural city in the north of Colombia.

Methods

This cross sectional study included 352 participants selected by purposive sampling, from a public and a private school located in Sincelejo, Sucre district, in the north of Colombia. Students ages ranged from 12 to 18 years old (mean, 15.09 ± 1.82). The participants completed three screening tools: a socio-demographic questionnaire, a screening instrument to collect information related to the frequency of use of some substances, such as tobacco and cannabis, and a self-report inventory to assess various personality and psychopathology domains. A series of t-tests, ANOVA and linear regression analyses were conducted.

Results

Physical aggression (t = 7.74; p < 0.01), cognitive depression (t = 5.03; p < 0.01), affective depression (t = 8.24; p < 0.01), affective instability (t = 3.46; p < 0.01), few social relationships (t = 3.36; p < 0.01), self-harm (t = 3.45; p< .01), cannabis and tranquilizer use (t = 2.83; p < 0.05; and t = 2.37; p < 0.05) had a significant independent relationship with suicidal behaviour. Aggression (t = 2.59; p < 0.05), components of depression (t = 9.03; p < 0.01) and borderline personality traits (t = 4.12; p < 0.01) also predicted suicidal behaviour.

Conclusions

More longitudinal studies are needed in this area to identify the causal relations between the factors studied and the suicidal behaviour of young people in Sincelejo.