Suicidal Behavior & Ideation in a Community Sample of Children: Maternal & Youth Reports

Data from a random sample of 752 children were used to explore suicide attempts, concordance btwn mother & child reports of suicidal ideas & attempts & the psych correlates of youth-reported attempts. Ideation was much lower when reported by mothers. Mothers were also generally unaware of attempts reported by their children. It is concluded that info regarding risk factors for survey-reported suicide attempts is important in understanding the origins of clinically identified suicide attempts.