Development of a tool to assess suicide risk factors in urban adolescents.
Dramatic increases in the adolescent suicide rate over the past three decades have underscored the need for risk-assessment tools. The tools that do exist are oriented to older populations and their application to adolescents is questionable. A project was initiated at the University of Utah's Health Education Department to develop a pilot instrument to examine the differences between adolescents who have attempted suicide and other teenagers. Eighty-two subjects between the ages of 14 and 19 participated in the test of this instrument. Twenty-five subjects were identified by a physician or psychologist as having failed in a sincere suicide attempt within the previous 18 months. Fifty-seven nonsuicide attempters with similar demographic profiles served as a comparison group. An 86-item questionnaire was administered to both groups. Questions were generated from a review of the literature of the past three decades for problems associated with suicide in this population. Questions were sorted into three domains (family environment, social environment, and self-perceptions), with each domain having several subdomains. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences for each of the three domains and on 55 of 86 questions. The results were used to create a streamlined instrument for assessing suicide risk that can be administered in 20 minutes.
White
G L
GL
University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City 84132.
Murdock
R T
RT
Richardson
G E
GE
Ellis
G D
GD
Schmidt
L J
LJ
D000293:Adolescent; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010556:Personality Tests; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D000092864:Suicide Prevention