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Abstract
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Six of the IS PATH WARM signs for predicting suicidal ideation were tested using a data base of 30,778 Americans. The six signs were significant predictors of suicidal ideation for women and for European Americans. They were least successful for Native American and Asians Americans and for those over the age of 65. It would be useful to devise warning signs tailored for specific groups of the population.
The American Association of Suicidology (www.suicidology.org) has posted ten warning signs for assessing immediate suicidal risk, known by the mnemonic IS PATH WARM (Juhnke, et al., 2007). IS PATH WARM stands for: Suicide Ideation, Substance abuse, Purposelessness, Anger, Trapped, Hopelessness, Withdrawal, Anxiety, Recklessness, and Mood change.
Seven of these risk factors are represented in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) of 2009, a survey in the USA of 37,933 respondents aged 18 years or older: suicide ideation, substance abuse, anger, hopelessness, withdrawal, anxiety, and recklessness. (Purposelessness, trapped and mood change were not assessed by the NSDUH survey.) In logistical regressions, Gunn, Lester and McSwain (2011) found that anger, hopelessness, withdrawal, alcohol abuse and recklessness distinguished those who had suicidal ideation in the past year from those with no suicidal ideation, while only anger distinguished suicidal ideators who had attempted suicide in the past year from ideators who had not.
The sample in the NSDUH comprises people of varying sex, age and ethnicity, and the present study was designed to explore the generality of the signs for suicide in these different demographic groups.
Language: en |