• Young Ji Lee, In Young Ahn, Bong Jo Kim, Cheol Soon Lee, Boseok Cha, So Jin Lee, Jiyeong Seo, Jae Won Choi, Youn Jung Lee, Eunji Lim, and Dongyun Lee.
• Department of Psychiatry, Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital, Changwon, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2021 Mar 22; 36 (11): e73.

BackgroundPuberty is a biologically and psychologically unstable period, and pubertal changes differ by sex. However, most previous studies on pubertal timing and suicide have focused on girls. This study investigated the association between early spermarche and suicide attempts in boys.MethodsWe analyzed a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents (The Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey, KYRBS) that included approximately 35,000 boys annually from 2011 to 2015. Pubertal timing in boys was defined by spermarche. Complex sampling logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) for suicide attempts between the early and average spermarche groups.ResultsThe ORs for suicide attempts in boys with early spermarche were significantly higher than those in boys with average spermarche after adjustment for age, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. The ORs from 2011 to 2015 were as follows: 1.782 (P < 0.001), 1.490 (P = 0.002), 1.693 (P < 0.001), 1.541 (P = 0.001), and 1.393 (1.024-1.895; P = 0.035), respectively.ConclusionThese findings suggest that early pubertal timing is a risk factor for suicide attempts in Korean boys after adjustment for depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and suicidal ideation, which have been previously reported as risk factors for suicide attempts. Therefore, careful attention should be paid to the prevention of suicide in boys who experience early spermarche in Korea.© 2021 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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