Relationship between attachment-felt security and history of suicidal behaviours in clinical adolescents

Objective: This study was designed to test the hypothesis that adolescents who perceive their attachment figures as unavailable (low felt security) wo uld be overrepresented in the case group of adolescents with a history of s uicidal behaviours. Method: One hundred and eighty-seven adolescents in psychiatric treatment p articipated in this retrospective case-comparison study of attachment-felt security and history of suicidal behaviours. All participants completed the following measures. Adolescent Attachment Questionnaire, Perceived Social Support Fi om Friends Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, the depression syndrome scale of the Youth Self Report, and Adam's Suicidal Ideation and Behavior protocol. Results: The comparison group comprised 101 adolescents who had never exper ienced suicidal ideation or behaviour, the case group included 86 adolescen ts with a history of suicidal behaviour. We found that perceived unavailabi lity and high levels of depressive symptomatology were predictive of suicid al behaviours. We also found a strong association between being older and h aving high levels of angry distress in adolescents with a history of suicid al behaviours. Conclusion: The advantage of including an assessment of parent-adolescent a ttachment with clinical adolescents is noted.