Citation

Langhinrichsen-Rohling J, Hudson K, Lamis DA, Carr N. Death Stud. 2012; 36(4): 323-339.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

24567989

Abstract

There is a need to efficiently and effectively screen adjudicated youth residing within the juvenile justice system for suicide proneness. Accordingly, in the current study, the psychometric properties of the Life Attitude Schedule: Short Form (LAS:S), a 24-item risk assessment for suicide proneness, were assessed using data from adjudicated youth residing in an alternative sentencing facility (n = 130). As predicted, statistically significant correlations were obtained between total LAS:S suicide proneness scores and reports of recent suicide ideation and hopelessness. Contrary to expectation, the previously reported 2-factor model for the LAS:S, with Factor 1 representing physical unhealthiness and Factor 2 representing psychological death, poorly fit the data. In adjudicated youth, we found that a single factor model derived from the 4 LAS:S subscales produced a better fit to the data than the 2-factor model. The death-related, self-related, injury-related, and negative health-related behaviors contained on the LAS:S shared common variance in these youth. A clinical implication is that practitioners can effectively use the total LAS:S score when screening adjudicated youth for suicide proneness.

Language: en