Economic status, family anomie, and adolescent suicide potential

This study attempts to ascertain the existence and economic characteristics of the anomic family as a determinant of high suicide lethality among adolescents. An inverse relationship was hypothesized between economic status, family norm consensus, family power, and adolescent suicide risk. Fifty-five Ss of at least moderate suicide risk--and their families--were obtained from a total sample of 194 adolescents, 13 to 18 years old, who attempted suicide during a three month period. A summary of the descriptive demographic data is as follows: 32.7% of the sample were male and 67.3% female; their mean age was 16.3 years; race was categorized into 81.9% white and 18.1% nonwhite. Correlation coefficients were used to test the hypothesis. Statistically significant differences in the degree of family normlessness and powerlessness were found for suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents and their families.