Liina-Mai Tooding

Suicidal Ideation, Risk Factors, and Communication With Parents

BACKGROUND Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth. In the year 2002, Lithuania had the 2nd, Luxembourg the 5th, and Estonia the 9th highest suicide rates among 15- to 19-year-olds across 90 countries worldwide. Suicidal ideation is a significant precursor to suicide. AIMS To report on the prevalence of and associations between suicidal ideation, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical fighting, bullying, and communication with parents among 15-year-old schoolchildren. METHODS The survey analyzes data from the 2005/2006 HBSC study from Estonia, Lithuania, and Luxembourg (N = 4,954). The risk factors were calculated through multinomial logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation in the preceding year was 17%. Suicidal thoughts were associated with communication difficulties with parents (OR from 2.0 to 4.6) and other risk factors, especially multiple risks (OR for 4-5 concurrent risk factors from 4.5 to 13.6). Parent-child communication had a significant mediating effect by decreasing the odds for suicidality and multiple risks. LIMITATIONS The prevalence estimates were obtained by self-reports. The causal relationships need further investigation. CONCLUSION The risk factors studied, particularly multiple risks, were associated with higher odds for suicidal ideation. Good parent-child communication is a significant resource for decreasing suicidal ideation among adolescents.

Suicide among older people in relation to their subjective and objective well-being in different European regions

The aim of this study was to establish how different types of welfare states shape the context of the everyday life of older people by influencing their subjective well-being, which in turn might manifest itself in suicide rates. Twenty-two European countries studied were divided into Continental, Nordic, Island, Southern, and post-socialist countries, which were subdivided into Baltic, Slavic, and Central-Eastern groups based on their socio-political and welfare organization. Suicide rates, subjective well-being data, and objective well-being data were used as parameters of different welfare states and obtained from the World Health Organization European Mortality Database, European Social Survey, and Eurostat Database. This study revealed that the suicide rates of older people were the highest in the Baltic countries, while in the Island group, the suicide rate was the lowest. The suicide rate ratios between the age groups 65+ and 0–64 were above 1 (from 1.2 to 2.5), except for the group of the Island countries with a suicide rate ratio of 0.8. Among subjective well-being indicators, relatively high levels of life satisfaction and happiness were revealed in Continental, Nordic, and Island countries. Objective well-being indicators like old age pension, expenditure on old age, and social protection benefits in GDP were the highest in the Continental countries. The expected inverse relationship between subjective well-being indicators and suicide rates among older people was found across the 22 countries. We conclude that welfare states shape the context and exert influence on subjective well-being, and thus may lead to variations in risk of suicide at the individual level.

Suicide and Homicide: Durkheim's and Henry & Short's Theories Tested on Data from the Baltic States

The three Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were studied in two sociopolitically divergent periods. The first was the stagnation period under the Soviet regime in 1970-1984. The second was the period of democratic reforms that started in 1985, with encouraging political changes, ensuing difficulties associated with the change-over to the market economy from 1989; and finally stabilization in 1994-1998. The results of our study supported the hypothesis that suicide and homicide are affected by sociopolitical and economic conditions. Durkheims suicide theory affords an explanation of the stable high suicide rate during stagnation period and the subsequent S-shaped suicide trend (fall-rise fall) during the reform period. However, the parallel suicide and homicide trends in the Baltic States do not tally with the postulates of Durkheim and Henry & Short regarding the inverse correlation of suicide and homicide at various levels of external restraints and with the varying state of the economy.

Associations between quality of relationships and life satisfaction of older mothers in Estonia, Germany, Russia and China

ABSTRACT The aim of the current study is to examine the associations between the quality of relationships and life satisfaction of older mothers in Estonia, Germany, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, based on the assumptions of the Family Change Theory. The role of satisfaction with family life as the probable mediating factor is considered. Estonian older mothers reported the least admiration and intimacy in their relationships with their adult daughters, and the least satisfaction with family life compared to German, Russian and Chinese mothers. German older mothers perceived the most admiration from their adult daughters and were the most satisfied with both their family and general life. Russian older mothers were the least satisfied with their general life compared to their counterparts in Estonia, Germany and China. The results from the Structural Equation Modelling showed that the relationship between satisfaction with family life and general life satisfaction was statistically significant in all countries except Russia. The satisfaction with family life as a mediating factor might strengthen the positive and negative aspects of intergenerational relationships on the life satisfaction of older mothers. The findings indicated that the emotional closeness and intergenerational relationships in families during the process of transition and globalisation play an important role in the life satisfaction of older mothers in these four countries.

The association of measures of the serotonin system, personality, alcohol use, and smoking with risk-taking traffic behavior in adolescents in a longitudinal study

Abstract Studies on the neurobiological basis of risk-taking behavior have most often focused on the serotonin system. The promoter region of the gene encoding the serotonin transporter contains a polymorphic site (5-HTTLPR) that is important for the transcriptional activity, and studies have demonstrated its association with brain activity and behavior. Another molecular mechanism that reflects the capacity of the central serotonin system is the activity of the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO) as measured in platelets. The purpose of the present study was to examine how measures of the serotonin system (platelet MAO activity and the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism), personality variables, alcohol use and smoking are associated with risk-taking traffic behavior in schoolchildren through late adolescence. The younger cohort of the longitudinal Estonian Children Personality Behaviour and Health Study (originally n = 583) filled in questionnaires about personality traits, smoking status, alcohol use and traffic behavior at age 15 and 18 years. From venous blood samples, platelet MAO activity was measured radioenzymatically and 5-HTTLPR was genotyped. During late adolescence, subjects with lower platelet MAO activity were more likely to belong to the high-risk traffic behavior group. Male 5-HTTLPRs′-allele carriers were more likely to belong to the high-risk traffic behavior group compared to the l′/l′ homozygotes. Other variables predicting risk group were alcohol use, smoking and Maladaptive impulsivity.The results suggest that lower capacity of the serotoninergic system is associated with more risky traffic behavior during late adolescence, but possibly by different mechanisms in boys and girls.