VALIDITY AND REACTIVITY OF A SYSTEM OF SELF-MONITORING SUICIDE IDEATION

The present study describes the rationale and validation of a self-mon itoring approach for suicide ideation. A sample of 49 severely ideatin g 18- to 24-year-old college students volunteering for a treatment stu dy for chronic ideators served as subjects. A three-item self-monitori ng scale designed to assess the strength, duration, and level of contr ol relative to suicide ideation was designed and utilized. Positive co rrelations with previously validated measures of suicide ideation supp ort the validity of the use of self-monitoring. In addition, positive relationships with measures of depression and hopelessness provide evi dence of concurrent validity. There was no evidence that self-monitori ng and concomitant increased attention to ideation increased suicidali ty. In fact, decreases were noted in measures of suicide ideation foll owing a 2-week period of self-monitoring. Together these findings supp ort the addition of self-monitoring to the list of dependent measures for addressing suicidal behavior.