A Latent Class Analysis of Health Lifestyles in Relation to Suicidality among Adolescents in Mauritius

Hoogstoel, Fanny Samadoulougou, Sékou Lorant, Vincent [UCL] Kirakoya-Samadoulougou, Fati

Suicidality, which includes suicidal thoughts, planning, and suicide attempts, resultsmainly from a combination of psychological, sociological, and environmental factors. Despite a highprevalence of suicidality among adolescents in Africa, only a few studies have considered thesefactors simultaneously. The objective of the study was to identify the prevalence of suicidality, todraw up profiles of concomitant risks, and to examine the associations between these profiles andsuicidality in Mauritius. This study used data from the 2017 Mauritian Global School-based StudentHealth Survey including 3012 adolescents with a mean age of 14.9±1.4 years. Factors related tolifestyle such as consumptions of alcohol and tobacco, physical activity, violence, parental support,anxiety, and loneliness were considered. A latent class analysis was performed to identify the profiles.Finally, a modified Poisson regression analysis with generalized estimating equations, adjusted withsociodemographic characteristics, was used to assess the association between these profiles andsuicidality. Overall, more than one in ten adolescents had at least one of the suicidality behaviors.Three profiles were identified: 1 = “low risk group” (63.9%); 2 = “problems with violence” (15.2%);3 = “problems with violence, alcohol, tobacco and psychological distress” (20.9%). Profiles 2 and3 were mainly made up of males. Adolescents under 15 represented the majority of individualsin profile 2. Finally, the risk of suicidality was higher in adolescents belonging to profiles 2 and 3compared to profile 1 for the three suicidality behaviors (profile 3: Prevalence ratio (PR) for suicidalthoughts = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.19–1.34; PR for planning = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.17–1.30; PR for attempt = 1.23,95% CI = 1.17–1.29). This study highlights the high prevalence of suicidality and a list of concomitantrisks, emphasizing this suicidality in Mauritian adolescents. Therefore, these results recommendfocusing preventive efforts toward a simultaneous consideration of these factors.