Examination of affective, cognitive, and behavioral factors and suicide-related outcomes in children and young adolescents

Examined the role of affective, cognitive, and behavioral factors in the occurrence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicidal intent in child and young adolescent (N = 175, ages 6 to 13 years) psychiatric inpatients. The results indicated that (a) self-reported depressed mood. negative automatic thoughts, hopelessness about the future, and anhedonia were all significantly associated with suicide-related outcomes, and these relations remained statistically significant even after depressed mood was controlled; (b) suicidal participants (both ideators and attempters) were distinguished from nonsuicidal participants by higher scores on measures of depressed mood, negative automatic thoughts, and hopelessness; and (c) participants who reported making a suicide attempt were distinguished from those who did not by higher scores on a measure of anhedonia and a higher number of previous suicide attempts. The results demonstrate the importance of negative automatic thoughts and anhedonia, and provide support for the role of hopelessness and previous suicide attempts in the occurrence of different suicide-related outcomes in children and young adolescents.