title: Investigating Correlates of Suicide Among Male Youth: Questioning the Close Affinity Between Suicide Attempts and Deaths.
abstract: This study was based on a sample of male high school students who completed National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Surveys in 1994, 1995, and 2001. We studied these students prospectively, comparing those who later died by suicide (n = 21) with those who were still living (n = 10,101). We employed chi-square and analysis of variance tests for statistical significance between suicide decedents and living respondents. Results showed suicide decedents were more likely to have experienced the suicide loss of another family member, to have been expelled from school, to have engaged in more delinquent actions including fighting, and to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Although one might have expected suicide casualties to have exhibited a greater amount of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and higher incidences of suicidality among their friends, our analyses did not find that these factors were associated with actual suicides. Should these findings be replicated, this would point to a need to refine youth suicide risk assessments. Collecting life histories, as well as identifying patterns of delinquency and fighting, may serve as more potentially fruitful means for assessing genuine suicide risk than some traditional risk assessment methods.z.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Nassau Community College, Jamaica, NY, USA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feigelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Joiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Zohn
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D063588:National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States