Postvention in Adolescent Suicide (IN: Preventing Youth Suicide: Proceedings of a Conference Held 24-26 July 1990, edited by S McKillop)

In 1988, 3 deaths occurred within 8 days of each other, two students being from the same school. 2 of the deaths were suicides. These events led to an ongoing series of research projects aimed at understanding the factors which contribute to youth suicide, particularly contagion. This paper describes two of the research studies. The first examined whether knowledge of a completed suicide increased suicidal ideation & depression among adolescents attending the same school. An extensive discussion of findings from this study is provided. The second study is based on the postvention work that occurred after a suicide at another high school. (5 refs.)