Correlates of Suicidal Ideation and Attempts in a Community Sample of Junior High and High School Students

Abstract

We administered a questionnaire anonymously to 1,384 junior high and high school students. Results indicated that 36% of these adolescents had experienced suicidal thoughts in the past year; 7% reported having made a suicide attempt. Nearly half (n = 48) of the students experiencing "extremely troubling" suicidal ideation reported having made an attempt. Females, ninth graders, and students of low socioeconomic status (SES) were most at risk for experiencing suicidal thoughts, whereas females and low-SES students were most at risk for suicide attempts. Suicidal ideation and attempts were associated with more negative life events, lower levels of family support, and lower levels of adjustment. Finally, analyses revealed that, whereas demographic variables were only weak predictors of suicidal ideation and attempts, subsets of other variables such as life events, social support, and adjustment strongly enhanced the ability to predict suicidal behavior.