the measures employed; in particular, early onset of alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking in the former study (e.g., the grade in which a young person first got drunk and started smoking regularly) tended to be more conservative than those in our study (e.g., the grade in which they first drank alcohol and smoked). Both problem behaviors were treated as categorical variables in this study, whereas as continuous variables in the previous study. We do not know whether the measurement of the sexual intercourse variable used in this study was construed as including forced sexual intercourse; however, if so, our results support those of previous studies showing that both male and female adolescents who have been forced to have sexual intercourse appeared more likely to engage in serious suicidal ideation.7,8 Since we measured onset variables less conservatively than did previous studies, our findings may have derived stronger implications than previous studies regarding the early initiation of alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and/or sexual intercourse on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
