Suicide is the second major cause of death for adolescents, after accidents. Administrators should adopt cautious and comprehensive policies, risk management, and prevention programs. Educators should recognize warning signs: suicide threats, recent losses, traumatic events, sudden changes in appearance, heavy drug or alcohol use, and…

Subpopulations of elderly adults at highest risk for suicide are identified, and several specific programs are described, along with a range of measures to prevent suicide in late life. These measures include primary prevention steps related to education, and secondary prevention involving early identification and assessment of the depressed and…

Describes the development of an interdisciplinary course that used dramatic literature to illustrate psychological concepts involved in death, dying, grief, grief bereavement, suicide, and AIDS. Discusses planning for the course, course content, processes used in the course, assignments given, and student and faculty reactions to the course. (RJM)

Assessed the reliability and validity of Cole's four-item version of the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire (SBQ). Clinical outpatients and undergraduates completed the SBQ and other measures. Results indicated the SBQ's strength lay in two areas: internal consistency and test-retest reliability over a two-week time period. (RJM)

Examines the long-term sequelae of childhood sexual abuse in six areas: posttraumatic stress, cognitive distortions, altered emotionality, disturbed relatedness, avoidance, and impaired self-reference. Concludes that childhood sexual abuse has a variety of long-term impacts and that the measurement strategies used to demonstrate these sequelae…

Examined adolescents' perceptions of their family environments and suicidal behavior. Fifteen suicidal adolescents, 14 psychiatric controls, and 14 normal controls rated their families on cohesiveness, adaptability, parent-adolescent communication, parental caring, and parental overprotectiveness. Suicidal adolescents rated their families as least…

Examined development of concept of suicide in 60 children. Found that 10 percent of first, 50 percent of third, and 95 percent of fifth graders had basic understanding of suicide. Attitudes toward suicide were neutral or negative. Concept of suicide was significantly related to concept of death and experiences with death and was also related to…

Employed self-report questionnaire in Solomon four-groups design to assess efficacy of suicide intervention classes in achieving their instructional objectives. Tenth-grade students who participated in classes as compared to controls showed significant gains in relevant knowledge about suicidal peers and significantly more positive attitudes…

Analyzed attitudes of suicidal ideators (n=104) and nonideators (n=104) at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Findings from responses to Student Attitude Measure revealed that ideators' attitudes were significantly more negative than those of nonideators. Some grade level and gender differences were found. (Author/NB)

Examines risk factors for adolescent suicide among Navajos by comparing survey responses of students having attempted suicide with those of other students. A history of mental health problems, alienation from family and community, and having a friend commit suicide put students at a higher risk for suicide. (CJS)

Undergraduates (n=141) read vignette about suicidal person with either Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, depression, drug abuse, anxiety, or adjustment problems. Found that suicidal person who was human immunodeficiency virus-positive engendered significantly less helpful responses from students than did suicidal person who had panic attacks.…

The relationship between the number of suicidal communications prior to an attempt and the lethality of the attempt is investigated. Attempters who made fewer suicidal communications tended to use more lethal methods. A history of drug abuse was more prevalent in the low communication group. (Author/EMK)

Using a behavioral high-risk two-site prospective design, the cognitive vulnerability hypothesis about suicide was evaluated. During the 2.5-year follow-up high cognitive risk participants were more likely than those with low risk to exhibit suicidality. Obtained relationship between cognitive vulnerability and suicidality was mediated by…

Self-mutilating behavior (SMB), suicide, and eating disorders are examined in adult females (N=42) in relation to childhood sexual abuse. A statistically significant relationship was found between SMB and suicide attempts. Findings support the contention that SMB and sexual abuse are closely related to eating disorders. (Author/EMK)

A study examined suicidality in 223 children with developmental disorders (ages 4 to 18) and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Twenty percent experienced either suicidal ideation, threats of, or attempts at suicide, with hanging being most frequently considered. Suicidality was most often encountered in individuals with oppositional defiant…