Quarrels with parents or teachers over the use of smartphones and stress caused by school grades added to the risk of suicide among those who went to sleep later at night. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has revealed that teenagers who go to sleep later at night are more prone to committing suicide.
A research team from Yonsei University College of Medicine conducted a survey of 48,218 people (23,391 male, 24,827 female) who participated in a health survey conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017.
The team divided the respondents into three groups of those who went to bed before 11 p.m., between 11p.m. and 1:30 a.m., and after 1:30 a.m.
The results showed that teenagers who went to bed past 1:30 a.m. were 1.3 times more likely to think about suicide than those going to sleep before 11 p.m., and 1.3 times more likely to plan out suicide (1.4 times for males, 1.2 times for females).
Quarrels with parents or teachers over the use of smartphones and stress caused by school grades added to the risk of suicide among those who went to sleep later at night.
South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Every 7.7 teenagers in 100,000 committed suicide in 2017, the largest cause of death among teens.
“Teenagers who think about committing suicide have a 60 percent chance of either planning or carrying out suicide within a year,” said Prof. Jang Seong-in, who spearheaded the research.
“It is best to encourage teenagers not to have these thoughts in the first place.”
“Parents and teachers should be more interested in teenagers going to bed late,” he added.
The study was published in a recent edition of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
