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Is Adolescent Suicidal Ideation Continuous or Categorical? A Taxometric Analysis

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Abstract

Despite the strong association between suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior, a relative minority of ideators transition to attempting suicide. Clarifying the latent structure of suicidal ideation has direct implications for theory, as well as suicidal risk assessment and prevention efforts. Taxometric analysis is a statistical technique specifically designed to assess whether a latent construct is taxonic (i.e., categorical) or continuous (i.e., dimensional) in nature. Although this statistical approach has been increasingly used over the past decade to elucidate the latent structure of various forms of psychopathology and related risk factors, there are no taxometric studies to date of suicidal ideation. The aim of the current project is to apply taxometric methods to a sample of clinically depressed, treatment-seeking adolescents (n = 334). Current suicidal ideation was measured using the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire-Jr., (SIQ-Jr.). The results of two mathematically non-redundant taxometric approaches (i.e., MAXEIG and L-Mode) are consistent with a continuous latent structure for suicidal ideation. The current findings suggest that suicidal ideation in depressed adolescents is dimensional. The implication of these findings for research, theory, and suicidal risk assessment strategies are discussed.

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Notes

  1. It has been traditionally recommend that within-group correlations for constructed indicators be under 0.3, and interindicator correlation within the entire sample be above 0.3 (Meehl 1995). It has been suggested more recently, however, that the magnitude of difference between the full-group and within-group indicator correlations is more important than having absolute within-group correlation values below 0.3 (Ruscio et al. 2006; Walters 2008).

  2. For discussions of high-risk research designs, see Carter and Garber 2011; Goodman and Gotlib 1999.

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Acknowledgments

Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (Grant PDF-0-10-252) and the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MH101138 to the first author. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Bradley Hospital, 1011 Veterans Memorial Parkway, East Providence, RI, 02915, USA

    Richard T. Liu, Richard N. Jones & Anthony Spirito

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Correspondence to Richard T. Liu.

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Liu, R.T., Jones, R.N. & Spirito, A. Is Adolescent Suicidal Ideation Continuous or Categorical? A Taxometric Analysis. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43, 1459–1466 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0022-y

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