Suicidal Depressed vs. Non-suicidal Depressed Adolescents: Differences in Recent Psychopathology

The present study was designed to determine (a) whether there are specific symptoms to differentiate between 2 clinical samples of depressed children: those expressing suicidal behavior & those with no suicide attempts, & (b) if there are significant differences between parents’ & adolescents’ reports of the same symptoms. The two depressed samples were found to have only very few dissimilarities, while there were some essential differences between parental & adolescent perceptions of the suicidal & depressive symptoms of the adolescent. Implications are discussed. (42 refs)