title: Reporting suicide attempts: consistency and its determinants in a large mental health study.
abstract: A lifetime history (LTH) of suicide attempts (SAs) is frequently assessed in mental health surveys. However, little is known about the reliability of assessing a LTH of SA. This study examined the consistency and its determinants of reporting a LTH of SA in a large cohort of persons with a history of depression and/or anxiety. Data are from the baseline and two-year assessments of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Persons with a Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI)-based lifetime depressive and/or anxiety disorder (N = 1973) constitute the study sample. A LTH of SAs was assessed at baseline and at two-year follow-up. Of the persons who reported at either interview a LTH of SAs, more than one-third did not report this consistent at both interviews. Moreover, indications were found for more consistent reporting among persons with a higher number of SAs and among persons with current (severe) psychopathology as compared to those with remitted or less severe current psychopathology. Our results showed that even a salient topic as a history of SAs is prone for reporting errors, and that current psychological state influences reporting of a LTH of SAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam/GGZ in Geest, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Merijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eikelenboom
authors.forename: Johannes H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.forename: Aartjan T F
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Beekman
authors.forename: Ad J F M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kerkhof
authors.forename: Brenda W J H
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Penninx
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011599:Psychopathology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: prevalence; reliability; reporting errors; suicide attempt