Examination of Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Factors and Suicide-Related Outcomes in Children and Young Adolescents

The authors examined the role of affective, cognitive & behavioral factors in the occurrence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, & suicidal intent in child & young adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Results indicated that a) self-reported depressed mood, negative automatic thoughts, hopelessness about the future, & anhedonia were all significantly associated with suicide-related outcomes; b)suicidal participants were distinguished from nonsuicidal participants by higher scores on measures of depressed mood, negative automatic thoughts, & hopelessness; & c) participants who reported making a suicide attempt were distinguished from those who did not by higher scores on a measure of anhedonia & a higher number of previous suicide attempts. (57 refs)