Profile Differences in the Psychosocial Correlates of High and Low Suicidal Risk Groups in Early and Late Adolescents

Page: 22-28
Sayantani Chatterjee (Department of Psychology, Loreto College, Kolkata, West Bengal)

Life undergoes different changes at different points of time, with both pleasure and displeasure being its integral parts. Adolescence having its own simplicity also imbibes complexities of various kinds. Early adolescents are referred to as ‘teens,’ and late adolescents as ‘youths’. Adolescence is a launching phase of striving for self sufficiency. The purpose is to determine differences in psychosocial correlates of high and low suicidal risk groups in adolescents. Purposive random sampling has been used for selecting 380 individuals. The scores on the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire are used to segregate individuals into ‘High’ and ‘Low’ Suicidal Risk Groups by method of Median Split. Statistical measures used are Mean, Standard Deviation, t-test. For early adolescents, two groups differed significantly on psychiatric morbidity, self enhancing humor, aggressive humor, happiness, locus of control. High suicidal risk group scored high on psychiatric morbidity, aggressive humor, self-defeating humor, locus of control. Low suicidal risk group scored high on reasons for living, affiliative humor, self enhancing humor, happiness. For late adolescents, two groups differed significantly on psychiatric morbidity, aggressive humor, self defeating humor, happiness, locus of control. High suicidal risk group scored high on psychiatric morbidity, aggressive humor, self-defeating humor, locus of control. Low suicidal risk group scored high on affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor, happiness. The findings imply the need to give due emphasis on mental health functioning and the utilization of positive resources by adolescents to survive the stresses of this period and not to feel meaningless about their existence.