Psychiatric Diagnoses in Minority Female Adolescent Suicide Attempters

Psychiatric diagnoses were examined among 3 groups of minority adolescent females: 61 suicide attempters, 31 psychiatrically disturbed nonattempters & 23 nonattempting, nondistrubed girls. Major or minor depressive disorder was found in 42% of the attempters; conduct disorder in 46%; multiple diagnoses in 38% & no diagnoses in 13%. Only suicidal ideation distinguised attempters from disturbed nonattempters while many symptoms distinguished these 2 groups from nondisturbed nonattempters.(35 refs)