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. 2023 Feb 24:1-10.
doi: 10.1007/s12310-023-09575-0. Online ahead of print.

Differentiating Between Youth with a History of Suicidal Thoughts, Plans, and Attempts

Alannah Shelby Rivers  1   2 , Payne Winston-Lindeboom  1 , Tita Atte  1 , Perri Rosen  3 , Matt Wintersteen  4 , Nicole Kathleen Watkins  1 , Allen Tien  5 , Guy Diamond  1
Affiliations

Differentiating Between Youth with a History of Suicidal Thoughts, Plans, and Attempts

Alannah Shelby Rivers et al. School Ment Health. .

Abstract

Limited research has examined factors distinguishing between patterns of adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The current study examined demographic, school, family, and mental health differences across patterns identified by Romanelli and colleagues (2022): history of thoughts only, plans with thoughts, attempt with thoughts and/or plans, and attempt without thoughts. The current study includes 4,233 students (M age = 14.65 years, SD = 2.06) with a history of suicide risk referred to school Student Assistance Program teams. The sample was approximately 60.7% female, 59.8% White (16.0% Black, 15.4% multiracial, 8.8% other), and 14.4% Hispanic. Results indicated that the "attempt without thoughts" group was small with no differentiating characteristics. However, membership in the other three groups was predicted by demographic, school, family, and mental health factors. These results support the importance of examining suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts as distinct indicators and assessing key biopsychosocial factors. Further research could improve how behavioral health systems identify at risk youth.

Keywords: Adolescent; Depression; Mental health; Students; Suicidal thoughts.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe Behavioral Health Screening tool is licensed to Medical Decision Logic, Inc., a health science informatics and computer science engineering company. Dr. Tien is the Founder, President, and Chief Science Officer of this company. Dr. Diamond might one day receive a small royalty payment for his part in developing the tool. Dr. Rivers and the other coauthors do not report financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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