Presents suicide risk assessment in a two-tiered model comprising background/contextual factors and subjectivity. The subjectivity portion is formulated around Shneidman's concepts of perturbation and lethality. Discusses decision of hospital admission versus ambulatory care. Suggests that theoretically informed approach should serve both…

Analysis of recent findings on age- and sex-specific suicide cycles illustrates a fundamental confound of motivation and opportunity and underscores the need for a theory of suicide that is based on risk (risk = motivation x opportunity) and that is situated in framework of age- and sex-specific life course contingencies. (Author/NB)

Reviewed records of 134 police officers. Fifty-five percent admitted to suicide attempts. Logistic regression model correctly classified 79.1% of subjects as to whether or not they attempted suicide. Results indicated that officers reporting marital problems were 4.8 times more likely to have attempted suicide and 6.7 times more likely if they had…

Conducted cohort analyses on data obtained from Danish Cause-of-Death statistics on suicide registered during years 1922-91. Although some differences could be found as to course of events during life span of cohorts and also when material was adjusted for sex, no significant differences could be found between various birth cohorts in total rates…

Argues that efforts to limit the incidence and prevalence of suicidal behavior must be based on a multifactorial approach that considers developmental concerns in all phases of life. (HTH)

Detailed data on the 14 adolescent cases from San Diego Suicide Study are presented and comparisons made to other studies. Data are presented that suggest that vast majority of adolescents who commit suicide have had relatively long histories of disturbed behavior and psychiatric symptoms (most typically depression and/or substance abuse).…

Interviewed survivors (n=12) of family member's suicide and members of survivor's support systems (n=10). Participants completed scales of social support offered or received by family members and scale of recovery from grief. Survivors believed that only other suicide survivors could fully understand them and that they experienced implicit…

Reviews literature on reactions to family members surviving another member's suicide. Investigates three factors determining reaction of others to persons bereaved by suicide: cause of death, characteristics of deceased, and characteristics of respondent. Reviews perceptions that persons bereaved by suicide have of how others view them. Notes…

Examined training in study of suicide in member-departments (n=25) of National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology and in member-departments (n=92) of Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology programs. Two groups did not differ significantly in training availability. Combining two groups, only 40 percent of clinical…

Presents psychometric investigation of the eight-factor clinical model of the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) as representing the most appropriate interpretive model for the SOQ. Notes that factor-analytic and internal consistency reliability results failed to support hypothesized eight-factor model. Discusses alternative factor scheme and…

Presents case study of 36-year-old mildly retarded white woman who lived in group home and who recently tried to injure herself. Comments on the case and on interventions are given by Rowland Barrett and Anne Walters from Brown University School of Medicine, Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital and from Howard Pressman, in independent practice in…

Reviews empirical studies of suicide survivors with designs that include control groups. Discusses investigations individually with respect to those in which participating survivors are friends or combination of different relationships to deceased, parents of deceased child, and spouses. Discusses commonalities of findings and most frequent…

College students completed measures of problem-solving appraisal, negative life stress, and suicide ideation (Study 1, n=1,277) or problem-solving appraisal, negative life stress, and hopelessness (Study 2, n=382). Results from both studies suggest that problem-solving appraisal and negative life stress are significant independent predictors of…

Describes program designed to train paraprofessionals to address the critical needs of suicide attempters. An evaluation of the program demonstrated success in the preparation of paraprofessionals to work with suicide attempters and highlighted some essential components of support and evaluation that must be met before the program can be fully…

To predict suicide, explicit causal models of suicide outcome are needed in which predictors are temporally ordered and then tested statistically. Because suicide is a dichotomous, nominal scale outcome, only certain statistics for prediction are appropriate. Logistic regression, which utilizes the likelihood ratio test of statistical inference,…