The relationship between lethality of attempted suicide and prior suicidal communications in a sample of residential youth.

Some type of suicidal communication precedes 80% of attempted and completed suicides in adolescents. This study investigates the relationship between the number of suicidal communications prior to an attempt and the lethality of the attempt in a sample of adolescent youth residing in a residential treatment facility. The sample consisted of 46 youth who had a suicide attempt while in a large group home residential facility over a 9-year period. Results indicated that attempters who made fewer suicidal communications beforehand tended to use more lethal methods in their attempts. Attempters with two or more preceding suicidal communications had significantly lower lethality in their attempts than did those with fewer suicidal communications. Few differences emerged between the groups in regards to demographic or psychosocial variables.