Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Apr 19, 2024; 14(4): 494-506
Published online Apr 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i4.494
Adolescent suicide risk factors and the integration of social-emotional skills in school-based prevention programs
Xin-Qiao Liu, Xin Wang
Xin-Qiao Liu, Xin Wang, School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Author contributions: Liu XQ designed the study; Liu XQ and Wang X wrote the manuscript; and all the authors contributed equally to this work and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xin-Qiao Liu, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Education, Tianjin University, No. 135 Yaguan Road, Jinnan District, Tianjin 300350, China. xinqiaoliu@pku.edu.cn
Received: December 18, 2023
Peer-review started: December 18, 2023
First decision: January 15, 2024
Revised: January 24, 2024
Accepted: March 26, 2024
Article in press: March 26, 2024
Published online: April 19, 2024
Processing time: 120 Days and 15.6 Hours
Abstract

Adolescents are considered one of the most vulnerable groups affected by suicide. Rapid changes in adolescents’ physical and mental states, as well as in their lives, significantly and undeniably increase the risk of suicide. Psychological, social, family, individual, and environmental factors are important risk factors for suicidal behavior among teenagers and may contribute to suicide risk through various direct, indirect, or combined pathways. Social-emotional learning is considered a powerful intervention measure for addressing the crisis of adolescent suicide. When deliberately cultivated, fostered, and enhanced, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, interpersonal skills, and responsible decision-making, as the five core competencies of social-emotional learning, can be used to effectively target various risk factors for adolescent suicide and provide necessary mental and interpersonal support. Among numerous suicide intervention methods, school-based interventions based on social-emotional competence have shown great potential in preventing and addressing suicide risk factors in adolescents. The characteristics of school-based interventions based on social-emotional competence, including their appropriateness, necessity, cost-effectiveness, comprehensiveness, and effectiveness, make these interventions an important means of addressing the crisis of adolescent suicide. To further determine the potential of school-based interventions based on social-emotional competence and better address the issue of adolescent suicide, additional financial support should be provided, the combination of social-emotional learning and other suicide prevention programs within schools should be fully leveraged, and cooperation between schools and families, society, and other environments should be maximized. These efforts should be considered future research directions.

Keywords: Adolescent suicide; Risk factors; Social-emotional skills; Social and emotional learning; School; Prevention

Core Tip: Adolescent suicide, as a public health issue with severe consequences and causing significant harm, calls for a more powerful and efficient global response. Adolescents spend the majority of their time in school, making this a natural setting for the implementation of social-emotional learning and the cultivation of social-emotional skills. In the future, efforts to prevent and address adolescent suicide should provide schools with more adequate financial support, further strengthen the combination of social-emotional learning and other suicide prevention programs within schools, and promote higher-quality solutions for the issue of suicide through the combined efforts of schools, families, and society.