INTERVENTIONS AMONG ADOLESCENTS WHO WERE VIOLENTLY INJURED AND THOSE WHO ATTEMPTED-SUICIDE

To examine responses to the psychological needs of adolescent injury v ictims, the records of all adolescents hospitalized at an urban trauma center during a one-year period for injury by gunshots, stabbings, an d physical assaults (N=59) were compared with the records of adolescen ts admitted that year for attempting suicide (N=28). Victims of intent ional injuries received significantly lower levels of psychosocial int erventions than suicide attempters, and access to such interventions a ppeared to be influenced by gender and race. Intentionally injured ado lescents may not receive available interventions for the psychosocial consequences of their injuries.