A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Behavior Disturbance and Suicidal Behavior Among Psychiatrically Hospitalized Adolescents in Israel and the United States

American adolescent psychiatric patients had significantly higher levels of suicidal behaviours (49% versus 19%) & a higher percentage of depression diagnoses (78% versus 24%) than Israeli psychiatric inpatients. After controlling for the diagnosis of depression, American male patients obtained significantly higher scores on the Obsessive-Compulsive, Aggression, & Hyperactive subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist than Israeli males. American females scored higher on the Depression subscale than Israeli females. Potential reasons for these findings are discussed. (35 refs.)