Self-esteem, depression, hopelessness, and suicidal intent among psychiatrically disturbed inpatient children

Abstract

Evaluated depression, hopelessness, and self-esteem in suicidal ideation and attempt among inpatient children (N = 123, ages 6 to 13 years). Suicidal ideators (n = 39), attempters (n = 42), and nonsuicidal patient control children (n = 42) participated. The major findings were that: (a) suicidal children reported significantly greater depression and hopelessness and lower self-esteem than did nonsuicidal children; (b) depression, as measured by the Children' Depression Inventory (CDI), was the single beast predictor of suicidal ideation and attempt; (c) hopelessness and self-esteem did not contribute further to the discrimination of suicidal children once CLPI depression entered; (d) when the CDZ was replaced by diagnosis of depression in the discriminant analysis, the Self-Esteem Inventory became the only measure to enter the equation; (e) suicidal girls were classified with greater accuracy than suicidal boys; and (f) the contribution of depression and self-esteem to discriminating between suicidal and nonsuicidal children varied as a function of the child's age. The results convey that depression and related cognitive domains discriminate suicidal and nonsuicidal children and vary in this regard as a function of child age and sex.