CORRELATES OF SUICIDE AND VIOLENCE RISK IN AN INPATIENT POPULATION - COPING STYLES AND SOCIAL SUPPORT

Forty-six suicidal psychiatric inpatients were compared with 44 nonsui cidal psychiatric inpatients on measures of suicide risk, violence ris k, impulsivity, feelings of anger, social support, and eight coping st yles. The two groups were similar on demographic variables, but the su icidal patients were higher on the suicide risk scale, the violence ri sk scale, the impulsivity scale, and feelings of anger. Suicidal patie nts were significantly less likely to use the coping style of minimiza tion to deal with life problems. A negative correlation was found betw een the social support measure and both suicide risk and violence risk . Three coping styles were found to correlate negatively with violence risk, but none with suicide risk. Coping styles were found to be a be tter predictor of violence risk than of suicide risk. It was also foun d that the more variables included in the predictor equation, the high er the correlation with the risk measures.