Multimethod measurement of proximal risk for persistent suicide ideation and future attempts among adolescents

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Abstract Suicide risk assessment in childhood is challenging, due, in part, to the lack of available developmentally- and culturally-sensitive assessments. Little information is known about suicide ideation characteristics among children. Ascertaining this information is critical in order to identify children at risk and to intervene to prevent the progression to suicidal behavior. Preliminary analyses from our ongoing study of adolescents suggest that adolescents with a persistent suicide ideation subtype have an earlier age-of-onset of ideation than adolescents with an intermittent or brief suicide ideation subtype. Thus, an earlier onset of ideation in childhood may be associated with more severe suicide ideation – and higher risk of suicidal behavior – in adolescence. Earlier identification of these children would allow for targeted interventions to prevent the progression to more severe suicidal behavior. The aims of this supplement are 1) to adapt our existing Adolescent Suicide Ideation Interview to be administered to children and their parents by incorporating developmentally and culturally sensitive methodologies to assess suicide ideation, such that this adapted assessment forms part of a Childhood Suicide Ideation Interview (CSII); and 2) to administer the CSII to children, ages 7-11, and their parents to collect preliminary data on the content and the subtypes of childhood suicide ideation. We will adapt our interview by incorporating visual images and methods used in ethnographic research, and we will pilot test the interview with a sample of racially and ethnically diverse children from a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Department in a public hospital in New York City. This project will pave the way for the development of risk assessments that provide rich information about the content and subtypes of childhood suicide ideation, which are needed to establish levels of care and design treatment plans.