Original Research Article
Year: 2016 | Month: December | Volume: 6 | Issue: 12 | Pages: 198-204
Influence of Dietary Practices on Suicidal Thought and Planning among Adolescents in Ghana
Emmanuel Thompson1, Seidu Sofo2
1Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Southeast Missouri State University, USA.
2Professor, Dept of Health, Human Performance & Recreation, Southeast Missouri State University, USA.
Corresponding Author: Seidu Sofo
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of dietary practices on suicidal thought and planning among Ghanaian junior high and senior high school students. Participants were 3031(1650 boys and 1381 girls) adolescents aged 11-18. The 2012 Ghana Global School-Based Student Health Survey served as the data collection instrument. The predictor variables were gender, being hungry (HNG), body mass index (BMI), and the number of times parents understood adolescents’ problems (APS). The response variables were suicidal thought and suicidal planning. Even though higher percentages of girls reported suicidal thought (51.93%) and suicidal planning (50.76%), boys had higher odds than girls of having suicidal thoughts and planning suicide. Logistic regression analyses indicated gender, HNG, and APS, were significant predictors of suicidal thought and planning. BMI predicted suicidal thought but not suicidal planning. Adolescents with higher BMI were more likely to report suicidal thoughts than those with lower BMI. Furthermore, those who were hungry “most times” had higher odds of reporting suicidal thoughts and planning than those who were never hungry.
Key words: Adolescents, dietary practices, Ghana, odd ratio suicide.