The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is used by the United States Centers for Disease Control to estimate rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescents. This study investigated the validity of the YRBS suicidality items by examining their relationship to criterion variables including loneliness, anxiety, depression, substance use, and other suicidality items. Participants were 386 high-school students. YRBS items assessing suicidal thoughts and behaviors demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity.
Afifi, T.O., Cox, B.J., & Katz, L.Y. ( 2007). The association between health risk behaviours and suicidal ideation and attempts in a nationally representative sample of young adolescents . Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 52, 666-674.
Brent, D.A., Perper, J.A., Moritz, G., Allman, C., Friend, A., Roth, C., et al. (1993). Psychiatric risk factors for adolescent suicide: A case-control study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 521-529.
4.
Burge, V., Felts, M., Chenier, T., & Parrillo, A. ( 1995). Drug use, sexual activity, and suicidal behavior in U.S. high school students. Journal of School Health, 65, 222-227.
5.
Centers for Disease Control. (2009). Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/questionnaire_rationale.htm
Epstein, J.A., & Spirito, A. ( 2009). Risk factors for suicidality among a nationally representative sample of high school students. Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviors, 39, 241-251.
8.
Johnson, J.G., Cohen, P., Gould, M.S., Kasen, S., Brown, J., & Brook, J.S. ( 2002). Childhood adversities, interpersonal difficulties, and risk for suicide attempts during late adolescence and early adulthood. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59, 741-749.
9.
Johnson, J.G., Harris, E.S., Spitzer, R.L., & Williams, J.B. (2002). The Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents: Validation of an instrument for the assessment of mental disorders among adolescent primary care patients. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30, 196-204.
10.
Ohring, R., Apter, A., Ratzoni, G., Weizman, R., Tyano, S., & Plutchik, R. ( 1996). State and trait anxiety in adolescent suicide attempters . American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 154-157.
11.
Russell, D. ( 1996). The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3): Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 20-40.
12.
Shanklin, S.L., Brener, N., McManus, T., Kinchen, S., & Kann, L. ( 2007). 2005 Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
13.
Spitzer, R.L., & Johnson, J.G. ( 1995). The Patient Health Questionnaire-Adolescent Version. New York: Biometrics Research Unit, New York State Psychiatric Institute.
14.
Woods, E.R., Lin, Y.G., Middleman, A., Beckford, P., Chase, L., & DuRant, R.H. (1997). The associations of suicide attempts in adolescents. Pediatrics, 99, 791-796.
15.
Zanarini, M.C., Vujanovic, A., Parachini, E.A., Boulanger, J.L., Frankenburg, F.R., & Hennen, J. ( 2003). A screening measure for BPD: The McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD). Journal of Personality Disorders, 17, 568-573.
