African American Children’s Reports of Depressed Mood, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation and Later Suicide Attempts

The authors attempted to assess whether family demographic characteristics & child aggressive behaviour are equal to or better than child self-reported depressive symptoms in predicting suicidal behaviour. The study revealed that African American children’s self-reports of depressed mood were the most useful in prediciting future suicide attempts, particularly among females. Neither family demographics nor teacher-reported child aggressive behaviour proved equal to child-reported depressive symptoms in predicting later suicide attempts. (39 refs)