William C. Goggin

Suicide Ideas: Relationship to Personality Disorders on the MCMI

Abstract The relationship of suicide to depression has been documented, but fewer data have been gathered on the relationship between suicide and personality disorders. A recent, well-validated instrument, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI), identifies personality disorders as well as clinical syndromes, but has not yet been used for identifying suicidal individuals. To determine this relationship, 36 drug and alcohol inpatients and 212 undergraduates completed the MCMI and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire. A stepwise multiple regression for both groups combined indicated that MCMI scales of Passive Aggressive-Negativistic, Dysthymia, and Paranoid accounted for a significant amount of variance in suicidality.

Reactions to Suicide: Does Age of the Victim Make A Difference

Abstract To assess reactions to suicidal and viral illness deaths of people of varying ages, 85 undergraduates completed the Youth Suicide Scale, which was modified to contain information about either a 10-, 18-, 30-, or 65-year-olds death. Consistent with past research, reactions to suicide were more negative, with participants seeing the individual and family as disturbed; and seeing the family as sad, blameworthy, unlikeable, in need of professional help, and believing they should have predicted the incident. Age of the victim made less difference, but participants thought that visiting the family of the 10-year-old would be more tense than visiting the family of older victims, and expected longer sadness and depression among families of 18- and 30-year-olds than 10- and 65-year-olds. Ageism is not a significant factor in reactions to suicide.

FIRO-BC normative and psychometric data on 9- through 13-year-old children

Study concerned principally with the need to provide normative and psychometric data for the FIRO-BC questionnaire. Reported are the means, standard deviations, test-retest reliability coefficients, and interscale correlation coefficients. Data are reported separately for boys and girls (N = 282). In addition, techniques of FIRO-BC data analyses are reviewed and alternatives are discussed.

California psychological inventory differences between undergraduate suicide ideators and nonideators

In order to assess personality characteristics of suicide ideators, 46 college students were divided into two groups on the basis of whether they reported that they thought about suicide (n = 15) or not (n = 31). Although both groups were below norms on these items, as predicted, ideators were less healthy than nonideators in terms of dominance, social presence, responsibility, intellectual efficiency, and psychological mindedness. These personality weaknesses may lead to the hopelessness that is associated with suicidal ideations.