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Assessing Vulnerability to Suicide
Author(s) -
Furst Janice,
Huffine Carol L.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1991.tb00572.x
Subject(s) - suicidology , respondent , vulnerability (computing) , psychology , suicide prevention , poison control , demography , medicine , computer security , medical emergency , sociology , political science , computer science , law
Three hundred members of the American Association of Suicidology (30% of those who apparently received the questionnaire) participated in a survey in which case histories of two men who had committed suicide and two who had not were presented. Respondents assessed the vulnerability to suicide of each man, recorded their levels of confidence in their assessments, and provided information about themselves. The two men who killed themselves were rated as less vulnerable to suicide than the other two men, and as less vulnerable than one would expect by chance. Respondent characteristics that predicted to accuracy in assessing vulnerability were gender and level of involvement in research. The findings are discussed in terms of the limitations of theoretical models as well as characteristics of the respondents and nature of the study design.