Gender differences in the suicide-related behaviors of adolescents and young adults

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research,  Dec, 1998  by Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling,  Peter Lewinsohn,  Paul Rohde,  John Seeley,  Candice M. Monson,  Kathryn A. Meyer,  Richard Langford

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It seems likely that there will be gender differences in LAS scores because gender differences in the prevalence of constructs that relate to suicidality have also been previously demonstrated. For example, adolescent females traditionally report more symptoms of depression and distress than do adolescent males (Allgood-Merten et al., 1990; Gore, Aseltine, & Colton, 1992). In contrast, male adolescents have been found to score higher than females on a factor labeled "foolhardiness" designed to reflect recklessness, dangerousness, and an interest in weapons (Clark, Sommerfeldt, Schwartz, Hedeker, & Watel, 1990). The activities that young males report engaging in for thrills and excitement have also been rated as riskier than the activities that females report doing (Lefkowitz, Kahlbaugh, & Sigman, 1994). While the links between depression and suicidality are well established, potential links between risk-taking, sensation-seeking, and suicide-related behavior warrant increased attention. Gender differences in the associations among these behaviors have also not been well established. Therefore, the second purpose of this study was to assess gender differences in expressions of suicidality as depicted by scores on the four LAS subscales. Gender differences in responses to measures of depressive symptomatology and hopelessness were concurrently examined.

Specifically, the following hypotheses were proposed for the current study: 1) Females would score higher overall than males on the LAS. This expectation was based on past research findings that have reported higher scores for women than men on self-report measures of depression and suicide-related behavior. 2) The pattern of scores on the four LAS subscales was hypothesized to vary as a function of gender. Specifically, females were hypothesized to report more negative and fewer positive self-related behaviors than males. Females were also expected to score higher on the overtly suicidal and death-related LAS subscale than would males. In contrast, males were expected to have higher scores than females on the risk-taking and injury-related LAS subscale. Males were also expected to engage in more negative health-related behaviors than females. 3) Consistent with past research, females were expected to report more symptoms of depression and hopelessness than males.

This study reports on data that were collected from two large convenience samples. The first sample consisted of high school students, the second of college students. Data collection strategies and recruitment procedures differed across samples. In addition, the different-aged samples were collected in different parts of the United States. As a result, the two samples were not combined for data analysis. Instead, a priori, it was expected that any obtained gender differences would be replicated across the two samples.

METHOD

Participants

Sample One. Data from two hundred and six adolescents comprised Sample One. All participants were enrolled in a large, urban, predominantly middle class high school in Northern California. Ninety-nine of the participants (48.1%) were male and 106 (51.5%) were female. One participant did not report his or her gender, and was thus excluded from further data analysis. The majority of participants were Caucasian (73.3%). Of the remaining participants, 11.2% were Hispanic, 5.3% were Native American, 1.5% were Asian American, 1.5% were African American, and the remaining 7.3% classified themselves as "other". Their mean age was 16.3 years (SD = 1.08 years). All grade levels were represented in the sample.