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Remarkably little is known regarding the temporal course of adolescent suicidal ideation and behavior, the prediction of suicidal attempts from changes in suicidal ideation, or the prediction of suicidal attempts after accounting for suicidal ideation as a predictor. A sample of 143 adolescents 12-15 years old was assessed during psychiatric inpatient hospitalization and again at 3, 6, 9, 15, and 18 months postdischarge through a series of structured interviews and parent-and adolescentreported instruments. Symptoms of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, externalizing psychopathology, hopelessness, and engagement in several forms of self-injurious/suicidal behaviors (i.e., suicide threats/gestures, plans, nonsuicidal self-injury [NSSI]) were assessed. Latent growth curve analyses revealed a period of suicidal ideation remission between baseline and 6 months following discharge, as well as a subtle period of suicidal ideation reemergence between 9 and 18 months postdischarge. Changes in suicidal ideation predicted suicide attempts. After accounting for the effects of suicidal ideation, baseline suicide threats/gestures also predicted future suicide attempts. Higher adolescent-reported depressive symptoms, lower parentreported externalizing symptoms, and higher frequencies of NSSI predicted weaker suicidal ideation remission slopes. Findings underscore the need for more longitudinal research on the course of adolescent suicidality. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptRecent data indicate that suicidal ideation, attempts, and completed suicide continue to occur at alarming rates, especially among youth (Kessler, Berglund, Borges, Nock, & Wang, 2005; World Health Organization [WHO], 2005). In addition, epidemiological data suggest that the transition to adolescence represents a critical developmental vulnerability period for increased suicidal behavior. For instance, in the United States, suicide currently is the third leading cause of adolescent death, and the rate increases sixfold during the transition from childhood to adolescence (from 1.3 to 8.6 per 100,000; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2006). This developmental period also brings a dramatic increase in the occurrence of the immediate precursors to suicide death, including suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts (e.g., Kessler, Borges, & Walters, 1999). National data from community-based samples of high school students indicate high rates of 12-month suicidal ideation (16.9%), suicide plans (13.0%), suicide attempts (8.4%), and suicide attempts requiring medical treatment (2.3%; CDC, 2006) by adolescence. For these reasons, the study of suicidal behaviors at the transition stage to adolescence is of especially high priority (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2000[HHS], , 2001; U.S. Public Health Service, 1999; WHO, 2005).Yet data bearing on some fundamental aspects of adolescent suicidal behavior are surprisingly unavailable. This is due in large part to the existence ...

A transactional, interpersonal framework involving adolescents' reassurance-seeking and peer experiences may be useful for understanding the emergence of gender differences in depression prevalence during the adolescent transition. Sociometric nominations of peer acceptance/rejection and ratings of friendship quality provided by adolescents and their friends were used to measure peer experiences among 6th-8th-grade adolescents (N=520) over 3 annual time points. After controlling for age and pubertal development, significant but small prospective effects offered mixed support for hypotheses: (a) depressive symptoms and negative peer relations predicted increasing levels of girls' reassurance-seeking; (b) initial levels of reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted deteriorating friendship quality among girls and low friendship stability, respectively; and (c) reassurance-seeking combined with poor peer experiences predicted increases in girls' depressive symptoms.

This study examined hostile intent and causal, critical self-referent attributions for ambiguous peer cues to examine the hypothesis that these latter interpretations would be uniquely associated with symptoms of depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. Critical self-referent attributions were assessed in 116 kindergarteners (Study 1) and 159 adolescents (Study 2) using a hypothetical vignette procedure, replicating past work on social information processing. In both samples, critical self-referent attributions were concurrently associated with depressive symptoms as reported by teacher (Study 1), peer, and self-report (Study 2). Critical self-referent attributions also were concurrently associated with loneliness and with actual peer experiences, including peer rejection in both studies. Results from both studies support a cognitive vulnerability-stress model, suggesting that the tendency to derive critical self-referent attributions from ambiguous peer experiences is most closely associated with depressive symptoms when accompanied by high levels of peer victimization. Longitudinal findings (Study 2) offers preliminary evidence for this cognitive vulnerability-stress model as a predictor of adolescents' depressive symptoms over a 17-month interval.

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