PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, FAMILY FUNCTIONING, AND COGNITIVE-STYLE IN URBAN ADOLESCENTS WITH SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

This study examined psychopathology, family functioning, and cognitive style in 121 African-American adolescents who attempted suicide. Grou p means suggested that these youths, when taken together, were not rep orting significant psychological distress. However, after classifying the youths into three groups by level of depressive symptoms interesti ng findings emerged Youth self-reports of depressive symptoms on the C hildren's Depression Inventory were associated with the presence of in ternalizing and externalizing disorders on the Youth Self-Report and C hild Behavior Checklist, and with a maladaptive attributional style. S ixty-seven percent of participants classified their family types as ma ladaptive in terms of levels of cohesion and/or adaptability. In fact, the majority of adolescents and parents reported their families as di sengaged These findings are discussed from a culturally and developmen tally sensitive framework which considers key demographic variables (r ace, socioeconomic status, age). Clinical implications are offered for individual and family interventions.