Toward a predictive model of suicidal ideation and behavior: some preliminary data in college students.

Within a multivariate statistical design, the relationship of various interpersonal, emotional, and cognitive variables to suicidal ideation and behavior in college students was examined. A total of 158 subjects (58 males, 100 females) completed self-report measures of life stress, faulty cognitions, loneliness, depression, hopelessness, family cohesiveness, adaptive reasons for living, and suicidal ideation and behavior. The results of a multiple-regression analysis, forward-inclusion algorithm, indicated that a predictive equation consisting of loneliness, irrational beliefs, and low adaptive reasons for living best accounted for suicidal behavior scores. To determine the basic structures and power of the predictor variables under study, a factor analysis and composite regression were employed, resulting in a predictive equation consisting of three factors: Social/Emotional Alienation, Cognitive Distortions, and Deficient Adaptive Resources. Results are discussed in terms of an interactional model of suicidal behavior.