00:00Hi, thanks for having me. Yes, like you said, it's a very concerning and shocking statistics
00:09that around one in three Australians have reported some form of suicidal thoughts and
00:14behaviours in past 12 months between the ages of 14 to 19. But it's a wake-up call for us
00:20to act and sadly suicide still remains a leading cause of death among young Australians.
00:26In the figures themselves then, are there differences between when male or female teens
00:31may be affected most by any suicidal thoughts or behaviours? Are there patterns of the ages
00:38when these thoughts may first appear? Yes, so we did look at the prevalence of
00:43different form of suicidal thoughts and behaviours like ideation, planning and attempt over three
00:49time points. And what we found that all these behaviours peak at about the age of 16 to
00:5617 for females, but then we see a decline by the time they reach 18 to 19. But for males,
01:02although they start from a lower base when they were 14 to 15, but we never see that decline.
01:08So the prevalence of ideation, planning and attempt increases when they reach 16, 17,
01:14but when they stay the same or they increase slightly when they reach 18, 19.
01:19And what proportion of young people who do have thoughts of suicide go on to attempt taking their
01:26lives? Sure. So we also looked at co-occurants, like how ideation, planning and attempt co-occurred
01:32together. And what we find that 20% of males who reported some form of ideation or planning then go on
01:39to attempt suicide. Whereas 30% of females who report some form of ideation or planning then go on to
01:45attempt suicide. However, I would also like to point out that in our study, we have young people who
01:51reported attempting suicide without co-occurring ideation or planning. And this was slightly higher,
01:58the proportion was slightly higher for males, around 9% and 6% for females. So we do see that attempt
02:04without any ideation and planning. And this is the first time, isn't it, that data about
02:10participants' suicidal thoughts and behaviours has been released. So how useful, Neha, is it to have
02:16this information? I think this study is very important and critical. It fills that evidence base
02:22in terms of understanding the prevalence and trajectories of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among
02:28young people, young Australians aged 14 to 19. And it fills that evidence gap. We use this
02:34data from a longitudinal study of Australian children, which is the largest and the longest
02:39running study, where we have been following a nationally representative sample of over 10,000
02:45children for past 20 years. And it's a stark call. It's a stark reminder that support for young
02:53Australians and mental health should start early on. Well, how can this research then inform
02:59government action to protect young people's mental health? Where do you from here?
03:05Yeah, sure. I think this research aligns very closely with the National Suicide Prevention Strategy
03:12that was released in February this year that outlines the framework for reducing suicide and suicidal
03:19distress among Australians. So what our study highlights a few key points that I would like to point out.
03:26First, that suicide is a very complex issue and it does not always follow a linear path or a straightforward
03:32path from ideation, planning to attempt. And so prevention efforts and strategies need to consider
03:39other personal and social risk factors of distress when designing preventive efforts. And secondly,
03:46we also need to consider gender differences, like I talked about, in terms of how suicidal thoughts and behaviours
03:53evolve over time for males and females, and they might show different risk profiles. So we need to
03:58consider that into our prevention efforts and strategies. And finally, I would like to point out
04:03that in next few months, we are going to release another research, which builds on this one, where we
04:09will look at modifiable factors, such as children's relationship with parents, peers and school. And I think
04:16that will also inform government policy and decision-making.
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