Reasons for adolescent suicide attempts: Associations with psychological functioning

Objective: To determine reasons for suicide attempts in adolescents and to examine the relationship between these reasons and psychological functionin g. Method: Self-reported reasons for suicide attempts and psychological fun ctioning were examined in 120 adolescent suicide attempters who presented t o a pediatric general hospital. Results: Consistent with prior research, th e most frequently endorsed motives for self-harm were to die, to escape, an d to obtain relief. More manipulative reasons for overdose (such as making people sorry) were endorsed less frequently. Adolescents who cited death as a reason for their suicide attempt reported more hopelessness, socially pr escribed perfectionism, depression, and anger expression. Discriminant func tion analyses indicated that high levels of depression and anger expression predicted a self-reported wish to die, and high levels of depression and s ocially prescribed perfectionism predicted death as the primary reason repo rted for the suicide attempt. Conclusions: Systematic assessment of the rea sons for a suicide attempt is a useful tool for clinicians in determining r ecommendations for follow-up treatment.