Predictive and Concurrent Validity of the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire Among American Indian Adolescents
Keane E M~~Dick R W~~et al
The Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (Junior High School Version) can be used to identify young people who may be at risk for attemping suicide, since this questionnaire focuses on suicidal ideation, a major risk factor for attempted suicide. A suicide attempt cluster an an American Indian boarding school provided the unique opportunity to examine the performance of this scale in a group of American Indian high school students who had taken the questionnaire approximately 2 months prior to the outbreak of suicide attempts. The scale proved to be an excellent predictor of future suicide attempts when compared to other measures of distress: anxiety, depression, & alcohol use. The questionnaire was an effective screen for suicide risk in this population. (20 refs.)