title: Adolescent physical abuse and suicide attempts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The rate of suicide attempts and the exposure to risk factors for suicide in an unselected sample of confirmed cases of physically abused adolescents recruited directly from the New York State Central Register for Nassau and Suffolk Counties was compared with those of a community sample of nonabused adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semistructured and structured diagnostic interviews were used in the assessment of psychopathology of adolescents and their parents
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of adolescents attempting suicide did not differ for the two groups. However, the abused adolescents showed significantly greater exposure to risk factors for adolescent suicide, including family disintegration, and diagnoses of depression, disruptive behavior disorders, and substance abuse and dependence. Comparisons of the 8 physically abused adolescents who attempted suicide with the 91 who did not attempt suicide showed that the following factors were associated with significantly greater risk for suicide attempts: adolescents' perceptions of their families as lacking cohesiveness and maternal support, higher adolescent "hostility" ideation scores, adolescent diagnoses of disruptive disorders and conduct disorders, adolescent substance abuse/dependence, and exposure to a suicide attempt by a family member or a friend.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A transactional model of abuse, family and personal stressors, and the development of adolescent vulnerability leading to psychopathology is offered to explain the results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, North Shore University Hospital-NYU School of Medicine, Manhasset 11030, USA.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pelcovitz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salzinger
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data