Adolescent Suicide Attempts

Abstract

THIS PAPER, a follow-up study of adolescent patients hospitalized for suicidal attempts, compares those who made posthospitalization suicidal attempts with those who did not with regard to five variables: living situation, parental loss, social life, social agency contact, and school adjustment. It attempts to answer the following questions: (1) Did suicidal behavior continue after hospitalization? (2) What factors are associated with those who do continue to show suicidal behavior? Representative studies of adolescent suicidal behavior include: (a) general reviews, Balser and Masterson,¹Bakwin,^2,3Gould,⁴Jacobziner⁵; (b) methods used, Jacobziner⁶; (c) etiological factors, such as school problems, Otto⁷; (d) or family disorganization, Tuckman and Connon,⁸Teicher and Jacobs^9,10; (e) psychodynamics, Schrut,¹¹Glaser¹²; and (f) presuicidal behavior, Schneer et al,¹³and Otto.¹⁴ The research by Teicher and Jacobs represents one