Factores protectores y de riesgo asociados a conducta suicida en niños: su importancia en el diseño de programas de prevención

Abstract

Objective. describe the protective and risk factors associated with suicidal behavior in children and teenagers and to point out their importance in the design of prevention programs. Methodology, a descriptive study based on the bibliographic review of scientific articles published from 2016 to 2021 and extracted from databases such as. Redalyc, Scielo and PubMed. Keywords such as child suicide, adolescent suicide, protective and risk factors and design of prevention programs were used to perform the search. In addition, specialized books on the subject were consulted. Conclusion, the risk factors associated with suicide in children and adolescents are found, in personal traits with personality characteristics of emotionality, frustration, low self-esteem, etc., in the family context when there are conflicts or previous suicidal behaviors in relatives and, in the academic context as stressors in their educational training, on the other hand, the protective factors are those that minimize the likelihood of suicidal behavior, such as, a family environment based on positive parenting and individual characteristics that are developed skills such as problem solving and healthy interpersonal relationships. In this sense, the analyzed studies showed that detecting and recognizing the risk factors, as well as strengthening the protective factors, are fundamental within prevention programs to be considered complete and effective, thus guaranteeing the learning in at-risk families and in the population, in order to reduce this problem.