Citation

Woznica JG, Shapiro JR. J. Pediatr. Psychol. 1990; 15(6): 789-796.

Affiliation

Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, California.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2283581

Abstract

Assessed the concept of the "expendable child" syndrome proposed by Sabbath (1969) as a contributing factor in adolescent suicide attempts. It was hypothesized that suicidal adolescents would be rated higher on a measure of "expendability" than would a psychiatric control group of adolescents with no known history of suicide attempts or ideation. Forty adolescents, ages 13-24, who had been seen in psychotherapy at a teen-age health clinic, were rated by their psychotherapists on suicidality and a 12-item scale of expendability (a sense of being unwanted and/or a burden on the family). As predicted, suicidal adolescents received significantly higher ratings on the expendability measure than non-suicidal adolescents. Results support the concept that feeling expendable is a characteristic of suicidal adolescents. Implications for prevention and treatment of adolescent suicidality are discussed.

Language: en