The Themes Expressed in Suicide Calls to a Telephone Help Line

The call sheets kept by counsellors on 409 suicide calls were content-analyzed, resulting in a reliable checklist comprising 9 major themes. The prevalence of these themes within the sample was then determined & age & gender differences in the themes expressed by 189 first-time callers were examined using logistic regression analysis. Almost equal numbers of male & female calls were received & the 9 themes were mentioned a total of 981 times. Among first-time callers, males under 35 years were around 75% more likely to refer to relationship breakdown in their calls than were same-age females. Male callers were also twice as likely to refer to material hardship. Females were 4 times more likely to refer to being the victim of abuse & nearly 60% more likely to refer to interpersonal & family problems. (12 refs.) JA