The structure of the Reasons for Attempting Suicide Questionnaire (RASQ) in a nonclinical adult population

A sample of 561 nonclinical adult respondents completed the Reasons for Att empting Suicide Questionnaire. Although confirmatory principal components a nalysis indicated some support for this measure's previously identified two -dimensional structure, various rules for determining the number of compone nts all converged in supporting a three-component solution, representing in ternal perturbation-based reasons, manipulative motivations, and extrapunit ive motivations. Validity for each of these three components was establishe d by demonstrating that scales based on these dimensions were each capable of significantly differentiating between previous suicide attempters and no nattempters. Suggestions for revisions to the Reasons for Attempting Suicid e Questionnaire are offered. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.