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Suicide can be prevented, and everyone has a role to play. Understanding the risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs for suicide is one important way to help prevent suicides.
As a quick overview:
We have provided a general list of risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs for suicide below. We encourage those who are interested in toolkits or fact sheets with more detailed information to visit the Centre for Suicide Prevention’s resource library: https://www.suicideinfo.ca/resources/
Risk factors for suicide are characteristics, conditions, or experiences that increase the chance that a person will engage in suicidal behaviour. When multiple risk factors outweigh the factors that build resiliency, there is an increased likelihood that a person may think about suicide (Sharam et al., 2021). It is important to remember that no single factor can predict suicide, and the presence of risk factors is different from person to person over their lifetime.
(Government of Canada, 2016; O’Connor, 2021).
Protective factors for suicide are characteristics or circumstances that may help to decrease a person’s suicide risk by contributing to resiliency. Resiliency can be understood as our ability to handle and recover from the challenges we face in our everyday life (Shahram et al. 2021).
Protective factors and resiliency are growing areas of research in suicide prevention and may not have been studied as thoroughly as risk factors and warning signs of suicide. As such, we’ve provided a general list of protective factors that have been identified in the literature.
Protective factors exist and are developed on an individual, community, or societal level. While individual refers to personal factors, community factors reflect community experiences that can reduce suicide risk, and societal factors refer to the cultural and environmental features within the broader society.
Individual protective factors include:
Community protective factors include:
Societal protective factors include:
(Sources: Fonesca-Pedrero et al., 2022; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2022; Shahram et al., 2021).
People who die by suicide usually show some indication of warning before their deaths. Warning signs include things that can be seen or heard (e.g. behaviours), but also include things that may be more difficult to observe (e.g. thoughts or feelings). Warning signs are also called invitations for help because that’s what they are!
When someone is displaying warning signs for suicide, it is our invitation to start a caring conversation with them. Recognizing the warning signs for suicide can help us to intervene and keep someone safe from suicide.
Warning Signs (Behaviour):
Warning Signs (Mood/Feelings):
(Source: Government of Canada, 2022; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2023).
Individuals who have risk factors and show warning signs for suicide should be evaluated for possible suicide risk by a medical doctor or mental health professional.
Remember, if someone is showing warning signs for suicide, also known as invitations for help, you can respond by having a caring conversation.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2023). Risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs. Accessed from: Risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs | AFSP
Fonesca-Pedrero, E. et al. (2022). Risk and Protective Factors in Adolescent Suicidal Behaviour: A Network Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Government of Canada. (2016). Suicide: risks and prevention. Accessed from: Suicide: risks and prevention – Canada.ca
Government of Canada (2022). Preventing suicide: Warning signs and how to help. Accessed from: Preventing suicide: Warning signs and how to help – Canada.ca
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2022). Risk and Protective Factors. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed from: https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/factors/index.html
O’Connor, Rory. (2021). When it is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It. Vermillion.
Shahram, S. et al. (2020). Promoting “Zest for Life”: A Systematic Literature review of Resiliency Factors to Prevent Youth Suicide. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31(1), 4-24.