青春期的發展與情緒行為障礙、使用物自殺傾向

The Association between Pubertal Development and Emotional/ Behavioral Problems, Substance Use, and Suicidality among Adolescents

目的：我們用橫斷面及前瞻性的研究方式去了解青春期發展和多種情緒及行為問題、習慣性使用物質及自殺的相關性。方法：研究樣本包括1388位13到14歲的國中一年級學生。每位學生填答量表有關青春期發展、情緒及行為問題及習慣性使用物質，父母則是填答問卷有關孩子的情緒及行為及習慣性使用物質。一年後，他們再接受同樣的評估。結果：共有1220位國中一年級學生（604位男生，49.5%）及其家長提供完整的資料（完成率=87.9%）。因預算的關係，一年後只追蹤其中一半的學生，被追蹤的593位學生中，488位學生（242位男生，49.6%）及其家長完成評估（完成率=82.3%）。研究結果顯示青春期發展的程度不同的學生在大部分的情緒行為問題、習慣性使用物質及自殺傾向並沒有差異，一年後追蹤的結果也沒有差異。結論：本研究的結果不支持台灣青少年的青春期發展程度和情緒行為問題、習慣性使用物質及自殺傾向的相關性。但本研究並未探究青春期發展是否和各種精神疾病相關，此為值得進一步研究的主題。

Objectives: Advanced pubertal stage and pubertal timing are among the risk factors of several emotional/behavioral problems in White populations. But little is known about such relationship in ethnic Chinese population. We cross-sectionally and prospectively examined the relationship between adolescent pubertal stage and mental health, focusing on emotional/behavioral problems, habitual use of substances and suicidality. Methods: With randomized multi-stage sampling method, we chose 1,388 7th graders, aged 13 to 14 years. Students completed the Pubertal Developmental Scale, Youth Self Report and questions about habitual substance use; their parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist and questions about habitual substance use. One year later, the same subjects repeated same questionnaires for comparison. Results: Totally 1,220 7th graders (604 boys, 49.5%) gave complete information. We followed up half of those students one year later. Of 593 8th graders, 488 (242 boys, 49.6%) and their parents completed the assessment. Our results showed that for both assessments in one year apart, most of the severity of the behavioral/emotional problems and rates of habitual use of substances and suicidality did not differ signifi cantly among students in the fi ve pubertal stages. Conclusion: This study did not support an association between pubertal staging and a wide range of emotional/behavioral problems, habitual use of substances and suicidality in Taiwanese adolescents. We suggest that future investigations on this topic need to include psychiatric interviews and objective assessments of pubertal development.