This annotated bibliography on suicidal behavior of American Indians, Canada Natives, and Alaska Natives includes 65 citations to articles which include anthropological, medical, and psychological treatments. Available from: White Cloud Center, Gaines Hall UOHSC, 840 Southwest Gaines Road, Portland, OR 97201. (Author/CM)

Studied whether intense negative affect states linked to suicidal behavior exist. Gathered Personal Feeling Scales data from high, moderate, and low serious suicide-threatening women and from a disturbed but nonsuicidal group. Results indicated that a particular configuration of intensely negative affects exist for highly serious suicidal women.…

Reviews the literature which relates to the role of social isolation in suicide. Major areas reviewed include theories on suicide and social isolation, measures of social isolation, and empirical studies which concern the relationship of social isolation to suicide. (Author)

Using the Canter Background Interference Procedure with the Bender Gestalt Test, a group of 18 adolescent suicide attempters earned test scores indicating they had significantly more problems with visual motor coordination than did a control group of 21 adolescents. (Author/SBH)

Presents an analysis of 90 cases of criminal homicide followed by suicide in North Carolina, 1972 to 1977. Homicidal victim-offender relationships were investigated in regard to age, sex, race and whether victim and offender were members of the same family, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. (Author)

Hopelessness seems to account for the bulk of the relationship between depression and suicidal intent. The Scale for Suicide Ideation seems to show promise as a predictive instrument, as a dependent variable in research on treatment efficacy, and as a tool for clinical assessment of suicide potential. (Author)

Applying basic decision theory on a neuropsychiatric hospital population indicates that researchers using a prediction schedule will be unlikely to predict a future suicide beyond a 20 percent level of efficiency. Eliminating false negatives was more practical than eliminating false positives in increasing the efficiency of a predictive schedule.…

Assessed whether clinically depressed healthy-weight, overweight, and obese females would differ on self-esteem and suicide risk measures. Data on clinically depressed females from an inpatient psychiatric unit indicated that the three groups did not differ significantly on measures of self-esteem and suicide risk, but depressed, obese, white…

Existing literature suggests that graduate programs may not provide adequate training in working with suicidal clients. Study surveyed 238 pre-doctoral psychology interns and assessed the prevalence of clients engaging in suicidal behaviors and the amount of formal training in managing suicidal clients received. Findings suggest a continued need…

The UK government's health strategy included a target for reducing the population suicide rates by 15% over an 8-year period. A crucial aspect in reducing suicide rates is the accurate assessment of those who may be at risk to enable appropriate interventions to take place. This paper outlines best practice regarding the exploration and assessment…

Investigates validity of the Suicide Assessment Checklist (SAC) in a sample of 1,969 admissions to a psychiatric emergency crisis center. Supporting construct related validity, total score differences were found in the expected directions as a function of referral reason. Convergent validity was based on observed correlations between selected SAC…

Examines the association between pathological gambling and attempted suicide using data from a prevalence study. The odds ratio for pathological gambling was statistically significant when major depression was the only comorbid mental disorder in the model. As terms for additional mental disorders were included, pathological gambling ceased to be…

Investigated hopelessness in 8-, 12-, and 17-year-olds (N=210). Found children with high hopelessness scores at greater risk for suicide and depression and for overall psychopathology. Results suggest that hopelessness does not increase from preadolescence to adolescence in general population. (Author/CM)

Explored prevalence of misconceptions about suicide in 643 United States residents. Results indicated misconceptions about suicide were not as prevalent as suggested by literature; that significant differences existed among groups differing in age and ethnic background but not in gender; and that several misconceptions may in fact not be…

Conducted two studies on economic stress and suicide on same population. First study replicated aggregate time-series work using monthly data for 1975-82 for Los Angeles, California. Results do not support contention that economic contraction has strong, widespread effect on suicide in general population. Findings suggest effect that regional…