The role of drugs in adolescent suicide attempts

Drug histories of 46 adolescent suicide attempters and their parents are described. In addition, these attempters and their parents are compared with a group of non-attempters and their parents on selected measures of drug use. Findings indicate that adolescent drug use is closely related to and perhaps symptomatic of suicidal behaviors and overall pathology. The relationship between adolescent suicidal behaviors and parental drug use is unclear because of the discrepancy between parent-adolescent responses.