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The Assessment of Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents
Author(s) -
Garrison Carol Z.,
Lewinsohn Peter M.,
Marsteller Frederick,
Langhinrichsen Jennifer,
Lann Irma
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.tb00946.x
Subject(s) - normative , psychology , feeling , content (measure theory) , clinical psychology , orientation (vector space) , applied psychology , social psychology , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , mathematical analysis
All available assessment instruments ( N = 29) used to study suicidal behaviors in adolescents and young adults (age 12–20) were collected and reviewed. Instruments were found to vary substantially in purpose, format, informant, and theoretical orientation. The items from these to ols ( N = 461) were categorized according to behavior type (thoughts, feelings, or actions) and content categories (death/life‐related, disease‐promoting/preventing, injury‐producing/reducing, person‐reducing/enhancing, and factual information). The majority of the items were found to assess thoughts and were focused on death‐related content. Recommendations include the need for more rigorous validation of instruments, clearer operational definitions, additional normative information, and expansion of the pool of available items to encompass a broader array of self‐destructive behaviors.