Abstract

The objective of this research was to examine whether the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale, a life event scale, can be used to identify suicide attempters. The Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale's ability to identify suicide attempters was tested in 1183 subjects (478 suicide attempters, 197 psychiatric inpatients, and 508 healthy controls) using the Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis and traditional psychometric methods. The Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis outperformed traditional psychometric approaches (area under the curve: 0.85 vs. 0.78; p < 0.05) and indicated that this scale may be used to identify suicide attempters. The life events that better characterized suicide attempters were change in frequency of arguments, marital separation, and personal injury. The Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale may help identify suicide attempters.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-30-2012

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Archives of Suicide Research, v. 16, issue 1, p. 13-28.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Archives of Suicide Research on January 30, 2012, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13811118.2012.640616.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2012.640616

Share

COinS