Citation

Boergers J, Spirito A, Donaldson D. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1998; 37(12): 1287-1293.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, School of Medicine, Providence, RI, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10638060

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine reasons for suicide attempts in adolescents and to examine the relationship between these reasons and psychological functioning. METHOD: Self-reported reasons for suicide attempts and psychological functioning were examined in 120 adolescent suicide attempters who presented to a pediatric general hospital. RESULTS: Consistent with prior research, the most frequently endorsed motives for self-harm were to die, to escape, and to obtain relief. More manipulative reasons for overdose (such as making people sorry) were endorsed less frequently. Adolescents who cited death as a reason for their suicide attempt reported more hopelessness, socially prescribed perfectionism, depression, and anger expression. Discriminant function analyses indicated that high levels of depression and anger expression predicted a self-reported wish to die, and high levels of depression and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted death as the primary reason reported for the suicide attempt. CONCLUSIONS: Systematic assessment of the reasons for a suicide attempt is a useful tool for clinicians in determining recommendations for follow-up treatment.

Language: en