Suicide risk assessment in a college student population.

A group of 211 students at a midwestern university completed the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire (M. M. Linehan & S. L. Nielsen, 1981), Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (W. M. Reynolds, 1991a), Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale (I. Orbach et al., 1991), Beck Helplessness Scale (A. T. Beck, A. Weissman, D. Lester, & L. Trexler, 1974), and the Reasons for Living Inventory (M. M. Linehan, L. J. Goodstein, S. L. Nielsen, & J. A. Chiles, 1983) to determine if this group of commonly used self-report measures can distinguish between individuals with high and low levels of suicidal ideation and history of self-harmful behaviors. Exploratory principal-axis factor analysis resulted in an interpretable 2-factor solution accounting for 36.2% of the variance in suicidality. Support for convergent validity of the chosen measures was also found. It appears that rapid, accurate assessment of university student suicide risk is possible. Implications for reduction of suicide risk in this segment of the population are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reasons for staying alive when you are thinking of killing yourself: The Reasons for Living Inventory.

65 adults generated 72 distinct reasons for not committing suicide; these were reduced to 48 by factor analyses performed on 2 additional samples, and the items were arranged into the Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL), which requires a rating of how important each reason would be for living if suicide were contemplated. In addition, factor analyses indicated 6 primary reasons for living: Survival and Coping Beliefs, Responsibility to Family, Child-Related Concerns, Fear of Suicide, Fear of Social Disapproval, and Moral Objections. The RFL was then given to 2 additional samples, 197 Seattle shoppers (mean age 36 yrs) and 175 psychiatric inpatients (mean age 31 yrs). Both samples were divided into several suicidal (ideators and parasuicides) and nonsuicidal groups. Separate multivariate ANOVAs indicated that the RFL differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal Ss in both samples. In the shopping-center sample, the Fear of Suicide scale further differentiated between previous ideators and previous parasuicides. In the clinical sample, the Child-Related Concerns scales differentiated between current suicide ideators and current parasuicides. In both samples, the Survival and Coping, the Responsibility to Family, and the Child-Related Concerns scales were most useful in differentiating the groups. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confidence in protection: A developmental psychopathology perspective.

S. Goldberg, J. Grusec, and J. M. Jenkins (see record 1999-15264-001) provided a thorough review of J. Bowlby's (1982) work and offered a persuasive argument to consider confidence in protection as the roots of the parent-child attachment system. In an attempt to explore implications of their work, confidence in protection is examined from a developmental psychopathology perspective, with issues highlighted specifically about the role of family functioning, as well as the notion of risk and protection mechanisms. Questions are raised in the spirit of responding to and extending S. Goldberg et al.'s (1999) thought-provoking analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hopelessness and social desirability as moderator variables in predicting suicidal behavior.

Hopelessness has been identified as the major variable linking depression to suicidal intent. M. M. Linehan and S. L. Nielsen (see record 1982-01443-001) found that the Hopelessness Scale was strongly contaminated with social desirability. Results from 54 attempted-suicide patients (mean age 26.9 yrs) show that hopelessness was a key variable in predicting suicidal behavior and ideation. Social desirability had no influence on hopelessness, and it is concluded that the Hopelessness Scale is appropriate for use in suicide assessment. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is the Promissory Note of Personality as Vulnerability to Depression in Default? Reply to Zuroff, Mongrain, and Santor (2004).

In contrast to D. C. Zuroff, M. Mongrain, and D. A. Santor (2004), the current authors find the promissory note of dependency-sociotropy (DEP-SOC) and self-criticism-autonomy (SC-AUT) as a model of risk for depression to be in default. The authors propose reorganizing what has been cast as unitary effort into 3 distinct endeavors: a psychoanalytic clinical theory, development of a refined empirical model of risk for clinical depression, and research examining the effects of DEP-SOC and SC-AUT on interpersonal relationships in nonclinical samples. The authors identify some issues that need to be accommodated regardless of whether the assessment of Zuroff et al. (2004) or their own is accepted. DEP-SOC and SC-AUT are best construed as correlated, continuous dimensions. Future work also needs to accommodate depression as chronic recurrent condition, advances in developmental psychopathology, and more stringent criteria for positing a risk factor for clinical disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Errors in O'Neil et als, (1980) Career Factor Checklist validity analyses.

J. M. O'Neil et al (see record 1981-02491-001) reported the results of a factor analysis of Career Factor Checklist (CFC) item responses. The present author contends that anomalies in the O'Neil et al report include omitting an obtained factor that was not hypothesized, omitting factor loadings incongruent with the hypothesized factors, and reporting factor loadings that were not obtained. These anomalies compromise the O'Neil et al conclusions regarding CFC validity. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of response set to observed suicide intent.

Examined the relationship of patients' response style to clinicians' ratings of suicidal intent. 50 suicide ideators (aged 16–52 yrs) were assessed using a scale measuring suicide ideation, the Hopelessness Scale, and the Desirability and Infrequency validity scales of the Personality Research Form. An item factor analysis of the scale measuring suicide ideation yielded 2 factors: Suicidal Desire and Suicide Preparation. Hopelessness and undesirability were associated with Suicidal Desire, but hopelessness was independent of Suicide Preparation. Similarities are noted with the factors previously identified by A. T. Beck et al (see record 1979-27627-001). It is suggested that negative desirability responding represents a distress set in the context of suicidal behavior. (French abstract) (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Panic Disorder and Suicide Attempt in the National Comorbidity Survey.

Clinical and some epidemiological data conflict concerning the likelihood of suicide attempt in individuals with panic disorder (PD). The purpose of this study was to illuminate the panic disorder-suicide attempt association in the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS; R. C. Kessler et al., 1994). Specifically, suicide attempt histories of those 5,872 respondents answering "yes" or "no" to the suicide attempt question were regressed against lifetime diagnostic histories. Lifetime PD history, in the presence of other disorders, was unrelated to elevated risk of suicide attempt and did not account for additional variance. PD respondents who had made a suicide attempt were characterized by Comorbidity. Epidemiological respondents with lifetime histories of PD alone are not at heightened risk for self-reported suicide attempt. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thought disorder, perceptual aberrations, and schizotypy.

Empirical links between schizophrenia and schizotypic psychopathology were examined. The Perceptual Aberration Scale (PerAb; L. J. Chapman, J. O. Chapman, & M. L. Raulin; see record 1979-23733-001) was used to identify putative schizotypic individuals and a contrast group of nonschizotypic controls. The Thought Disorder Index (TDI; M. J. Coleman et al.; see record 1994-15942-001) was used to quantify and classify thought disorder in these individuals. High PerAb participants, selected for having an increased number of self-reported perceptual and body image aberrations, showed an elevation in the amount and frequency of thought disorder as well as an increased number of idiosyncratic verbalizations. This supports the hypothesis that psychometrically identified schizotypic individuals display thought disorder similar to that shown by schizophrenic patients and some of their 1st-degree relatives, suggesting that there is a relation between schizotypic psychopathology, as tapped by the PerAb scale, and clinical schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability, validity, and preliminary normative data for the Inventory to Diagnose Depression in a college population.

The Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD; M. Zimmerman et al; see record 1987-14495-001) was designed to assess both the diagnosis of major depressive episode and the severity of depressive symptoms. When used with a college population, the IDD was a stable and internally consistent measure of depressive symptomatology. IDD total scores correlated significantly with other commonly used depression inventories, and a principal-components analysis revealed a general depression factor associated with IDD responses. Last, the IDD yielded diagnoses of major depressive episode that compared favorably with interview-derived diagnoses, and preliminary normative data for the IDD in a population of college students are reported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Searching for secure bases in attachment-focused group therapy: Reaction to Kilmann et al. (1999).

The appropriateness of P. R. Kilmann et al.'s (see record 1999-13879-006) treatment intervention is reviewed in light of attachment theory. As is widely known, J. Bowlby wrote extensively about childhood antecedents of later psychopathology. Not so widely known are Bowlby's insights regarding an attachment–theoretical understanding of therapy and therapeutic change. Bowlby's therapeutic perspective is described, beginning with the notion of the "secure base" and its special relevance for therapy, followed by a discussion of general and specific goals for successful therapy. Kilmann et al.'s treatment is then analyzed with respect to Bowlby's ideas, with suggestions for future research on attachment-focused intervention with individuals experiencing relationship difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Levels of hopelessness in children and adolescents: A developmental perspective.

We investigated hopelessness at 3 age levels (8-, 12-, and 17-year-olds) in 210 children and adolescents from a community sample derived from public school listings of 4,810 children in a midwestern college town. The sample included 105 boys and 105 girls, and there were 70 subjects in each age group. The major finding was that children with high hopelessness scores are at greater risk not only for suicide and depression as revealed by the Child Assessment Schedule and the Birleson Depression Scale but also for overall psychopathology. This study suggests that hopelessness does not increase from preadolescence to adolescence in a general population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coming to Terms With Risk Factors for Eating Disorders: Application of Risk Terminology and Suggestions for a General Taxonomy.

The aims of the present review are to apply a recent risk factor approach (H. C. Kraemer et al., 1997) to putative risk factors for eating disorders, to order these along a timeline, and to deduce general taxonomic questions. Putative risk factors were classified according to risk factor type, outcome (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, full vs. partial syndromes), and additional factor characteristics (specificity, potency, need for replication). Few of the putative risk factors were reported to precede the onset of the disorder. Many factors were general risk factors; only few differentiated between the 3 eating disorder syndromes. Common risk factors from longitudinal and cross-sectional studies were gender, ethnicity, early childhood eating and gastrointestinal problems, elevated weight and shape concerns, negative self-evaluation, sexual abuse and other adverse experiences, and general psychiatric morbidity. Suggestions are made for the conceptualization of future risk factor studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and suicide on Gotland. An intensive study of all suicides before and after a depression-training programme for general practitioners

In 1983 and 1984, the Swedish Committee for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression (PTD) organised a postgraduate training programme on the diagnosis and treatment to all the general practitioners on Gotland, Sweden. In the following years, the frequency of suicide and inpatient care for depression decreased significantly, as well as the frequency of sick leave for depression. The results of the Gotland study have provided evidence for the view that early recognition and adequate treatment of depression is one essential method of suicide prevention (Rutz et al., 1989; Rutz et al., 1992). A detailed retrospective clinical analysis, of all 115 consecutive suicide victims on Gotland between 1981 and 1992 presented in this study, showed that male gender and violent methods were overrepresented. 50 suicides had a DSM-III-R axis I diagnosis and half of them (n = 25) had primary major depression. Bipolar II disorder was relatively overrepresented in this sample. After the PTD programme, the proportion of depressive suicides was significantly lower than before. This finding strongly suggests that the significant decrease in the suicide rate after the PTD programme is a direct result of the robust decrease in depressive suicides of the area served by trained GPs. The practical importance of this finding is briefly discussed.     

A novel peptide-grafted liposomal delivery system targeted to macrophages

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) is highly expressed during hepatocarcinogenesis (P. Schirmacher et al., Cancer Res., 52: 2549-2556, 1992; B. C. Park et al., J. Hepatol., 22: 286-294, 1995). However, the mechanism of its enhanced expression is largely unknown. In this study, we show that IGF-II mRNA levels are increased within six h of exposing human hepatoma cell cultures to hypoxia, suggesting that hypoxia may be a strong stimulus for the induction of IGF-II expression in the process of hepatocarcinogenesis. This finding and the fact that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a typical hypervascular tumor (M. Mise et al., Hepatology, 23: 455-464, 1996) imply that IGF-II may play an important role in the development of neovascularization of HCC. Here we demonstrate that IGF-II substantially increases vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA and protein levels in a time-dependent manner in human hepatoma cells. The induction of VEGF by IGF-II was additively increased by hypoxia. Moreover, the direct angiogenic activity of IGF-II was observed in the quantitative chick chorioallantoic membrane assay (M. Nguyen et al., Microvasc. Res., 47: 31-40, 1994). These data suggest that IGF-II may be a hypoxia-inducible angiogenic factor in HCC.     

The factor structure of Union Commitment: An application of confirmatory factor analysis.

M. E. Gordon et al. (see record 1980-33572-001) developed a Union Commitment scale and identified four underlying factors. L. Friedman and R. J. Harvey (see record 1986-28952-001), in a reanalysis of the Gordon et al. data, concluded that union commitment was best represented by two factors. Although several investigations have replicated the Gordon et al. factor structure, none of these have used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the present study we used CFA to test the explanatory power of the two a priori factor structures. A sample of 465 blue-collar workers working for a large utility company in the midwestern United States participated in this investigation. The results suggest that, first, a modified version of Gordon et al.'s four-factor solution provides a better representation of the factor structure of union commitment. Second, the use of either the four-factor solution or commitment as a unidimensional construct may be justified, depending on the research focus. Finally, we found that unit weighting of the union commitment items was the most appropriate strategy for generating composites. The implication of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Reliability, validity, and preliminary normative data for the Inventory to Diagnose Depression in a college population": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by D. B. Goldston et al (Psychological Assessment, 1990[Jun], Vol 2[2], 212–215. On page 214, the specificity of the Inventory to Diagnose Depression in the sample of college students was listed as 87.5%. The correct value is 95%. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in PA, Vol 77:32114). The Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD; M. Zimmerman et al; see record 1987-14495-001) was designed to assess both the diagnosis of major depressive episode and the severity of depressive symptoms. When used with a college population, the IDD was a stable and internally consistent measure of depressive symptomatology. IDD total scores correlated significantly with other commonly used depression inventories, and a principal-components analysis revealed a general depression factor associated with IDD responses. Last, the IDD yielded diagnoses of major depressive episode that compared favorably with interview-derived diagnoses, and preliminary normative data for the IDD in a population of college students are reported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrative Borderline Adolescent Family Therapy: Meeting the Challenges of Treating Adolescents With Borderline Personality Disorder.

With the growing acceptance of the borderline personality disorder diagnosis for adolescents has come a need for specialized treatments for this challenging population. Further, because of the prominence of the family system during early and later adolescence, family treatments are particularly needed. The purpose of this article is to present the integrative borderline adolescent family therapy (I-BAFT) model that emerged from a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded (Stage 1) treatment development and enhancement effort. I-BAFT integrates (a) key interventions from the family treatment of adolescent drug abuse (D. A. Santisteban et al., 2003; J. Szapocznik & W. Kurtines, 1989), (b) skills training shown effective with adults with borderline personality disorder (M. Linehan, 1993a) and adapted for adolescents, and (c) individual treatment interventions that promote motivation for treatment and enhance the integration of the 3 treatment components. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire and the Reasons for Living Inventory in an adult psychiatric inpatient sample.

This study investigated the factor structure of the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (ASIQ) and the Linehan Reasons for Living Inventory (LRFI) in a sample of 205 adult psychiatric inpatients. Confirmatory factor analyses provided moderate support for the construct validity of each instrument. Coefficient alphas for the ASIQ (.98) and LRFL (.93) were high. In addition, a range of different clinical cutoff points was derived for each instrument. Both instruments were also better than chance in differentiating between the suicide attempter and psychiatric control groups. High ASIQ and low LRFL scores were significantly associated with scores on selected Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Content scales. The analyses also indicated that only the ASIQ added to the symptoms of hopelessness and negative affect in differentiating between the suicide attempter and psychiatric control groups. Results suggest that both instruments may be useful screening tests for suicidal behavior in psychiatric long-term care inpatient samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additional support for the reliability and validity of the Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation.

The Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation (MSSI; I. W. Miller et al, 1986) is a self-report measure used to assess suicidality. The present study was designed to provide additional assessment of the psychometric properties of the MSSI by (a) studying it in a severe and chronic sample of suicidal ideators (aged 18–24 years); (b) examining its stability and factor structure; and (c) comparing the MSSI with the Scale for Suicide Ideation (A. Beck et al, 1979), an interview-based measure of suicide ideation. The results provide additional data suggesting that the MSSI has satisfactory reliability and validity and that it can be used as a measure of suicide ideation with some confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)