Predictors of treatment response for suicidal youth referred for emergency psychiatric hospitalization

This study evaluated factors that predicted poor treatment response for 70 suicidal youth (ages 10 to 17 years; 67% African American) who received either multisystemic therapy (MST) or inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. Following treatment, suicidal youth were classified as either treatment responders or nonresponders based on caregiver or youth report of attempted suicide. Overall, female gender, depressive affect, parental control, caregiver psychiatric distress, and caregiver history of psychiatric hospitalization were associated with suicide attempts. However controlling for other variables, only depressive affect and parental control predicted treatment non-response. These results suggest the need to adapt existing treatments for suicidal youth to better address problems relating to youth depression.