Identity Formation in Suicidal and Nonsuicidal Youth: the Role of Self-Continuity

Examined ways in which suicidal & non-suicidal adolescent psychiatric inpatients & matched controls reasoned about personal continuity through time. While most hospitalised Ss evidenced developmental immaturity in attempts to reason about identity across time, suicidal Ss were unable to locate any grounds to justify their own continuity through time. Findings are interpreted in terms of understanding the normal identity formation process & the diagnosis & treatment of at-risk adolescents.