An Analysis of Adolescent Suicide Attempts: a Validation of the Expendable Child Measure (IN: The Adolescent in Turmoil, edited by A Z Schwartzberg)

The present study is an attempt to validate the Expendable Child Measure which hypothesizes that suicidal adolescents will be rated higher on this measurement than nonsuicidal adolescents. 40 adolescents, aged 12-22, served as subjects. They were divided into an experimental group of subjects who had a history of suicide attempts or were rated as having a high degree of suicidal ideation & a control group with no known history of suicide attempts or current ideation. A one-way analysis of variance of group differences on the Expendable Child Measure yielded a significant difference between the groups with the experimental group rated significantly higher than the control group. Results of this study replicate those of a 1990 study. Limitations of the current study are discussed & suggestions are made for future research. (11 refs.)