ABSTRACT
Defi nitions of Suicidal and Nonsuicidal Self-Injurious Behaviors in Adolescents ......................................................................................... 209
Fatal Suicidal Behavior ............................................................................... 209 Nonfatal Self-Injurious Behavior ................................................................ 209
Rates and Patterns of Completed Suicide ....................................................... 211 Rates and Patterns of Suicidal Ideation and Attempted Suicide .................. 212 Rates and Patterns of NSSI .............................................................................. 214 Risk Factors and Correlates of Suicidal Behavior and NSSI ......................... 215
Personal Characteristics ............................................................................. 215 Psychopathology ..................................................................................... 215 Prior Attempts ......................................................................................... 216 Cognitive and Personality Factors ......................................................... 216
Sexual Orientation ...................................................................................... 217 Biological Factors ........................................................................................ 217 Family Characteristics ................................................................................ 218
Family History of Suicidal Behavior...................................................... 218 Parental Psychopathology, Divorce, and Parent-Child
Relationships ....................................................................................... 218 Social Stressors ............................................................................................ 219
Stressful Life Events ............................................................................... 219 Bullying ................................................................................................... 220 Physical Abuse ........................................................................................ 220 Sexual Abuse ........................................................................................... 220
Environmental and Contextual Factors ..................................................... 221 Socioeconomic Status ............................................................................. 221 School Drop-Out and Homelessness ...................................................... 221 Contagion ................................................................................................. 221
Protective Factors............................................................................................. 222 Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 223 Note .................................................................................................................. 224 References ........................................................................................................ 225
Suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injurious behaviors among youth are mul-tifaceted events, emerging from biological, cultural, sociological, psy-chological, and interpersonal factors. An understanding of how these factors, including depression, contribute to self-injurious behaviors among youth is critically needed given the magnitude of these behaviors. Seventeen hundred 15-to 19-year-olds, killed themselves in 2004, more than died from cancer, heart disease, birth defects, chronic respiratory disease, HIV, stroke, and diabetes combined (CDC, 2005). An additional 1.5 million high school students attempted suicide (Eaton et al., 2006), and up to 2.1 million high school students engaged in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; Muehlenkamp & Gutierrez, 2007) in the past year. The goal of this chapter is to provide a review of the risk and protective factors for youth suicide and NSSI. In addition, treatment implications of the research fi ndings discussed will be highlighted.
