ABSTRACT
To understand the evolution of suicide risk assessment, it is important to understand the traditional theoretical models which have guided research and application. Braucht (1979), in this historical review of suicide risk assessment, described two models: 1) the environmental/sociological model, and 2) the personological/ psychological model. The environmental/sociological model conceptualized suicide as a static event that resulted from environmental, demographic, and social factors. Research based on this model attempted to differentiate populations of suiciders and nonsuiciders based on these factors. In the second model, personological/psychological, suicide was viewed as an outcome of abnormal personological or psychological factors. Research based on the second model attempted to differentiate suiciders from nonsuiciders based on various personological traits. Generally, risk assessment was guided by these two models, and suicide risk was determined by the presence of these population characteristics. From retrospective, correlational comparisons between suiciders and nonsuiciders, risk assessment attempted to predict suicide by identifying population membership.
