title: A scale to measure the desire to be dead.
abstract: Andrej Marusic suggested that it might be useful for therapists to assess the wish to be dead in clients, a preliminary step in the pathway to suicide. The aim of the present research was to develop a brief scale to measure the wish to be dead. Two samples of undergraduate students were administered a brief 10-item scale to measure the wish to be dead. The scale had moderately good test-retest reliability and internal consistency (as measured with Cronbach alpha). Scores on the wish to be dead scale had modest correlations with a history of suicidal ideation and attempts and with scores on a scale to measure obsession with death. The wish to be dead scale, therefore, appears to measure a state of mind different from suicidal ideation and obsession with death, has adequate psychometric properties (reliability and validity), and may prove useful for clinical practice and research.
authors.affiliation: The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Psychology Program, Galloway, NJ 08205-9441, USA. lesterd@stockton.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lester
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult