Suicidal Ideating and Attempts During Middle Childhood: Associations With Perceived Family Stress and Depression Among Child Psychiatric Inpatients

Examined associations among suicidal tendencies, depression, and children's perceptions o f family stress and support in child psychiatric inpatients. Results indicated that (a) children who attempted or thought of suicide described their families as less cohesive, less expressive, and higher in conflict than did nonsuicidal children; (b) these associations held regardless of whether children met criteria for depressive disorders; and (c) children who thought of or attempted suicide reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than nonsuicidal children.