Specificity of depressive symptoms and suicidality in a juvenile delinquent population

Research which has related scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (C DI) to suicidality have generally neglected to examine the possibility that specific depressive factors within the CDI may be more predictive of suici dality than the full scale score. Knowledge of such factors would help to e xplain the relationship between depression and suicidality and improve the prediction of suicidal behavior. The current study examined the relationshi p of depressive factors to suicidality in a sample of 200 incarcerated juve nile delinquents. The published factor structure for the CDI and one derive d from the delinquent population were compared. Results revealed two factor s from the derived solution, hopelessness and low self-esteem, to be more p owerful predictors of suicidal ideation than the full-scale CDI score. Thes e results suggest that symptoms such as low self-esteem and hopelessness ma y be responsible for the well-documented relationship between depression an d suicidality. Furthermore, it appears that the prediction of suicidality m ay be improved by examining specific depressive factors in suicide research as opposed to full-scale scores from depression inventories such as the CD I.