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Suicide and Attempted Suicide in Children and Adolescents

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Advances in Clinical Child Psychology

Part of the book series: Advances in Clinical Child Psychology ((ACCP,volume 7))

Abstract

In embarking on a review of suicidal behavior among children and adolescents, one encounters several difficulties. The first results from the extremely diverse nature of research in this field. A second difficulty, and a very important source of confusion in the literature, is that the group of young people who kill themselves is frequently studied with the group who commit self-damaging acts but do not die, as if they were a single population. Among adults, this second group, for whom we will use the term attempted suicide, shows some characteristics in common with completed suicides (Stengel & Cook, 1958) but also shows characteristics that are markedly different from those of successful suicides. The same appears to be true among children and adolescents. For this reason we propose to consider these two groups separately.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warneford Hospital, University Department of Psychiatry, Oxford, OX3 7JX, England

    Keith Hawton & Madeline Osborn

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  1. Keith Hawton
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  2. Madeline Osborn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    Benjamin B. Lahey

  2. Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan E. Kazdin

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Hawton, K., Osborn, M. (1984). Suicide and Attempted Suicide in Children and Adolescents. In: Lahey, B.B., Kazdin, A.E. (eds) Advances in Clinical Child Psychology. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, vol 7. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9817-2_3

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