State and trait anxiety in adolescent suicide attempters.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship between anxiety and suicidal behavior in adolescents.

METHOD

Forty-six adolescents who had been hospitalized in an inpatient psychiatric unit after a suicide attempt were compared on measures of anxiety and depression with 72 adolescent psychiatric inpatients who had no history of suicide attempts.

RESULTS

The suicide attempters exhibited significantly higher levels of both state and trait anxiety. However, when controlling for depression, the attempters did not differ in their level of state anxiety from the nonattempters, but they still manifested significantly higher levels of trait anxiety than nonattempters.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that anxiety, both state and trait, is a risk factor for suicidal behavior in adolescents. Yet, only trait anxiety appears to be relatively independent of depression in its effect on suicidal behavior risk. These findings imply that clinicans should take into account anxiety, both state and trait, for assessment and treatment of adolescents at risk for suicidal behavior.