African American Children’s Reports of Depressed Mood, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation and Later Suicide Attempts
Author(s)
Ialongo, Nicholas S.; Koenig-McNaught, Amy L.; Wagner, Barry M.; Pearson, Jane L.; McCreary, Beth K.; Poduska, Jeanne; Kellam, Sheppard
Abstract
This study attempted to assess whether family demographic characteristics and child aggressive behavior are equal to or better than child self-reported depressive symptoms in predicting suicidal behavior. Participants were a community population of African Americans first recruited at age 6 and followed periodically through age 19-20. Depressed mood proved the most consistent predictor of adolescent/young adult attempts in our logistic regression analyses of the data from the population as a whole and among females. The relationship between depressed mood and suicide attempts in males was in the expected direction, but was not statistically significant. The study revealed that African American children’s self-reports of depressed mood as early as grade 4 may prove useful in predicting adolescent/young adult suicide attempts, particularly among females. Neither family demographics nor teacher-reported child aggressive behavior proved equal to child self-reported depressive symptoms in predicting later suicide attempts.
