Hopelessness, Depression, and Suicidal Intent among Adolescent Suicide Attempters

In adult populations hopelessness has been found to be a better predictor of suicidal intent than depression. This relationship was examined among 44 minority female adolescent suicide attempters. The adolescent attempters reported high levels of hopelessness and depression: 42% were diagnosed as having a major depressive disorder or an adjustment disorder with depressed mood. Although depression and hopelessness were highly correlated, neither predicted suicidal intent. Minority adolescent female suicide attempters were not more hopeless than a matched group of psychiatrically disturbed nonattempters, and the correlations between depression and hopelessness were not significantly different between the groups. Clinicians should refrain from using hopelessness as an indicator of suicidal intent in minority adolescent girls, as one may with adults, and alternative measures of adolescent suicide intent need to be developed.