A longitudinal study of suicidal ideation in young adolescents.
As part of a longitudinal study of depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents, a three-item suicide screen was administered to 1,073 students for 3 consecutive years starting at the beginning of the 7th or 8th grades. Each year over 70% of respondents reported no suicidal thoughts, and less than 5.5% attained high suicide ideation scores. Blacks and females had higher scores, respectively, than did whites and males. The individual students' suicide scores were less stable than the overall distributions with 1- and 2-year correlations reaching 0.35 and 0.28, respectively. Only one student received a high score all 3 years. The best predictors of a given year's suicide score was the previous years' depression scores. Gender, undesirable life events, family adaptability, and family cohesion were significant but less consistent predictors.
Garrison
C Z
CZ
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia 29208.
Addy
C L
CL
Jackson
K L
KL
McKeown
R E
RE
Waller
J L
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data