The findings are mixed concerning depression and anxiety as predictors of suicide attempts among high risk adolescents. In a prospective study of 148 adolescents, King et al. (1995) found that dysthymia, severity of suicidal thoughts and family dysfunction were predictors of suicide attempts during the 6-months following hospitalization. In a similar study, Brent et al. (1993) found that, a history of a suicide attempt and affective disorders with nonaffective comorbidity were the strongest predictors of future attempts. In contrast, in a prospective, longitudinal study of 180 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents, Goldston et al. (1999) found that the number of prior attempts was the strongest predictor of post-hospitalization attempts, with severity of depression and anxiety emerging as important risk factors only for youth with a prior suicide attempt. Depression, anxiety, and other forms of psychopathology were not strong predictors of attempt in an 18-month follow-up study of hospitalized adolescents (Prinstein et al. 2008); rather, baseline suicidal gestures and changes in suicidal ideation over time were the most robust predictors of future attempts. These studies suggest that suicide attempts are multi-determined and that patterns of change in risk factors over time are important.
