Coping strategies, self-perceptions, hopelessness, and perceived family environments in depressed and suicidal children.

This study evaluated factors associated with depression and suicidal behavior in 8–13-year-old child psychiatric inpatients. Major differences were found in the correlates of depression and suicidal behavior. Suicidal behavior was associated with a tendency for children to perceive their families as low in control and cohesiveness and high in conflict. Suicidal children also spontaneously generated significantly fewer cognitive mediational strategies for coping with stressful life events than nonsuicidal children. Depression was associated primarily with variables reflecting negative cognitive biases. However, this negative bias was not generalized across all situational contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)