HOPELESSNESS AND SUICIDAL-BEHAVIOR

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) with suicidal behavior and other cli nical variables in 212 hospitalized suicide attempters. Another purpos e was to analyze the usefulness of BHS in this particular context. Tho se who later committed suicide (N=13) had significantly higher median scores than those who did not. Even though the median BHS score for th e total population was above the cut-off score for future suicide risk , suggested by Beck et al., the relative ratio of correctly positive/f alse positive was low. Therefore the BHS does not seem to be a satisfa ctory instrument for predicting future suicide in hospitalized suicide attempters. Our findings rather suggest that the BHS is related to de pression ratings, mood disorders and/or personality disorders. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science B.V.