Identity features of adolescents with suicidal attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic

From the very beginning of the pandemic period of Covid-2019 numerous sources have recorded an increase in the number of suicides among adolescents. The article presents the results of an empirical study aimed at studying social and personal identity of adolescents with a history of suicidal attempts and adolescents without suicidal attempts. At the time of the study, all adolescents who attempted suicide were undergoing treatment at the Republican Clinical Psychotherapy Center and the Republican Clinical Psychiatric Hospital of the Republic of Belarus (42 people). A group of teenagers without suicidal intentions consisted of 84 students of the MAOU "Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 93" of the Ufa city. The study describes the differences in social and personal identity in two selected groups of adolescents. Statistically significant differences were found between adolescents who attempted suicide and adolescents who did not have a history of attempts, according to the following indicators: socio-psychological adaptation, personal identity, top-down comparison. Adolescents without suicidal intentions have a higher level of expression of socio-psychological adaptation, they are more positive about themselves, they have a stable system of value orientations and a high level of reflexivity, unlike adolescents with a history of suicidal attempts. Adolescents with suicidal attempts to a lesser extent feel and realize the uniqueness of their personality, the uniqueness of their personal qualities, they are characterized by rejection of the norms and rules of society, the desire for detachment, indifference to their own Self, loss of interest in their inner world, low self-esteem. The samples are similar in terms of pastime, cohesion, intergroup competition and comparison, and collective self-esteem.

identity, personal identity, social identity, adolescence, suicide, suicidal behavior, suicidal personality, teenager, suicide in adolescents, Covid-2019