ABSTRACT
The death of an individual by suicide is forever perplexing to the individual's acquaintances, friends, and family members, who are haunted by questions such as “Why didn't I know?” and “What should I have done?” Suicide rates among adolescents and young adults tripled from 1950 to 1980 (O'Carroll, Mercy, Hersey, Boudreau, & Odell-Butler, 1992), and there is reason to believe these rates will continue to climb, given recent evidence of a growing incidence of psychopathology in the general population (Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, & Andrews, 1993; Lewinsohn, Rohde, Seeley, & Fischer, 1993). Most contemporary formulations of suicide (e.g., Blumenthal, 1990) propose that suicidal behavior arises when precipitants (risk factors) interact with predisposing factors (vulnerabilities).
