Year: 1997 Source: Child Psychiatry and Human Development, v.28, no.2, (Winter 1997), p.103-115 SIEC No: 20090013

The recent suicidal behaviour of 53 hospitalized preadolescents was assessed in interviews with children & their parents. Children described by their parents as more suicidal scored higher on measures of verbal intelligence & language production than their less suicidal counterparts, with unique variance predicted only by language production ability. The results suggest parents of preadolescents with better language production skills may be more aware of their childrens’ suicidal thoughts than parents of children with poorer language production ability. (30 refs.)