FAMILY DYNAMICS, HOPELESSNESS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCE IN PARASUICIDAL ADOLESCENTS

Objective: Adolescent parasuicide has often been associated with famil y disturbance, hopelessness and psychiatric disturbance, but little em pirical work has been done to verify these clinical impressions. Metho d: The present study compares matched groups of hospitalised parasuici dal adolescents, non-psychiatric medically hospitalised adolescents an d a control group on measures of family disturbance, hopelessness and psychopathology. Results: The findings reveal significantly higher lev els of family disturbance, hopelessness and depressive symptoms in the parasuicidal group. Conclusions: The results suggest that prevention and treatment of adolescent parasuicide should focus on both individua l and family dynamics.