Reading Books and Watching Films as a Protective Factor against Suicidal Ideation

Mami Kasahara-Kiritani; Gergö Hadlaczky; Michael Westerlund; Vladimir Carli; Camilla Wasserman; Alan Apter; Judit Balazs; Julio Bobes; Romuald Brunner; Elaine M McMahon; Doina Cosman; Luca Farkas; Christian Haring; Michael Kaess; Jean-Pierre Kahn; Helen Keeley; Bogdan Nemes; Urša Mars Bitenc; Vita Postuvan; Pilar Saiz; Merike Sisask; Airi Värnik; Marco Sarchiapone; Christina W Hoven; Danuta Wasserman

doi:10.3390/ijerph121215032

Reading Books and Watching Films as a Protective Factor against Suicidal Ideation

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Dec 15;12(12):15937-42. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121215032.

Authors

Mami Kasahara-Kiritani¹, Gergö Hadlaczky², Michael Westerlund³, Vladimir Carli⁴, Camilla Wasserman⁵, Alan Apter⁶, Judit Balazs^{7

8}, Julio Bobes⁹, Romuald Brunner¹⁰, Elaine M McMahon¹¹, Doina Cosman¹², Luca Farkas¹³, Christian Haring¹⁴, Michael Kaess¹⁵, Jean-Pierre Kahn¹⁶, Helen Keeley¹⁷, Bogdan Nemes¹⁸, Urša Mars Bitenc¹⁹, Vita Postuvan²⁰, Pilar Saiz²¹, Merike Sisask^{22

23}, Airi Värnik^{24

25}, Marco Sarchiapone^{26

27}, Christina W Hoven^{28

29}, Danuta Wasserman³⁰

Affiliations

¹ National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden. [email protected].
² National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden. [email protected].
³ National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden. [email protected].
⁴ National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden. [email protected].
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. [email protected].
⁶ Feinberg Child Study Centre, Schneider Children's Medical Centre, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. [email protected].
⁷ Vadaskert Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital, Budapest 1021, Hungary. [email protected].
⁸ Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1064, Hungary. [email protected].
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, University of Oviedo, Oviedo 33004, Spain. [email protected].
¹⁰ Section for Disorders of Personality Development, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69115, Germany. [email protected].
¹¹ National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork, Ireland. [email protected].
¹² Clinical Psychology Department, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400012, Romania. [email protected].
¹³ Vadaskert Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital, Budapest 1021, Hungary. [email protected].
¹⁴ State Hospital Hall in Tyrol, tirol-kliniken, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy B, Hall, A-6060, Austria. [email protected].
¹⁵ Section for Disorders of Personality Development, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69115, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Nancy, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, 54500 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France. [email protected].
¹⁷ National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork, Ireland. [email protected].
¹⁸ Clinical Psychology Department, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca 400012, Romania. [email protected].
¹⁹ Slovene Center for Suicide Research, Andrej Marušič Institute, University of Primorska, Koper 6000, Slovenia. [email protected].
²⁰ Slovene Center for Suicide Research, Andrej Marušič Institute, University of Primorska, Koper 6000, Slovenia. [email protected].
²¹ Department of Psychiatry, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, CIBERSAM, University of Oviedo, Oviedo 33004, Spain. [email protected].
²² Estonian-Swedish Mental Health & Suicidology Institute, Tallinn 11615, Estonia. [email protected].
²³ Tallinn University, Tallinn 10120, Estonia. [email protected].
²⁴ Estonian-Swedish Mental Health & Suicidology Institute, Tallinn 11615, Estonia. [email protected].
²⁵ Tallinn University, Tallinn 10120, Estonia. [email protected].
²⁶ Department of Medicine and Health Science, University of Molise, Campobasso 86100, Italy. [email protected].
²⁷ National Institute for Migration and Poverty via San Gallicano 25, Roma 00100, Italy. [email protected].
²⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. [email protected].
²⁹ Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. [email protected].
³⁰ National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17177, Sweden. [email protected].

Abstract

Reading books and watching films were investigated as protective factors for serious suicidal ideation (SSI) in young people with low perceived social belonging. Cross-sectional and longitudinal (12-month) analyses were performed using data from a representative European sample of 3256 students from the "Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe" study. Low social belonging was associated to SSI. However, reading books and watching films moderated this association, especially for those with lowest levels of belonging. This was true both at baseline and at 12 months of follow-up analyses. These media may act as sources of social support or mental health literacy and thus reduce the suicide risk constituted by low sense of belonging.

Keywords: Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE); adolescent; belonging; mental health; protective factors; suicide.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Books*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Europe
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Motion Pictures*
Protective Factors
Reading*
Social Support*
Suicidal Ideation*
Suicide / psychology*
Suicide Prevention*
Young Adult