DOPING, SUICIDAL RISK, AND MORBIDITY IN SCHOOL CHILDREN

Doping or abuse of illicit drugs, suicidal risk, and morbidity or somatic symptoms are of concern in schoolchildren, in view of juvenilization of risk nowadays. These risks are possibly interrelated such that doping in the past three months is likely to be predictable by suicidal risk in the past six months and predictive of morbidity in the recent month. To examine such interrelationships, the current study employed survey data collected from 2,978 schoolchildren. Results indicated that doping received a significant positive effect from suicidal risk and engendered a significant positive effect on morbidity. Additional results showed that the effect of suicidal risk on doping was significantly more positive when the schoolchild was a boy, younger, or living in a broken family. Moreover, the effect of doping on morbidity was significantly more positive when the school grade was lower. These results imply that doping and its morbid impact are partly preventable by cultivating the value of life to eliminate suicidal risk. Moreover, the prevention can be more effective in relation to some demographic characteristics of schoolchildren.