Abstract

URZUA M, ALFONSO  and  CAQUEO-URIZAR, ALEJANDRA. Construction and psychometric assessment of a scale designed to examine factors linkes to suicidal behavior in chilean adolescents. Univ. Psychol. [online]. 2011, vol.10, n.3, pp.721-734. ISSN 1657-9267.

It is assessed the properties of an instrument to detect risk factors for the attempt of committing suicide in 500 students attending high school (mean age 16.5 years). Proposed four-factor solution (suicidal behavior, satisfaction, sense of life, and negative affection) accounts for a 58 % of the variance. Internal consistency for the factors and for the total scale is good (Cronbach's Alpha is 0.95 for the total scale). Regression analyses suggest that the best predictive variable for the "attempt-of-committing-suicide" behavior corresponds to suicidal behaviors (suicidal ideation and planning). The scale shows suitable psychometric properties to assess the risk for the attempt of committing suicide, differentiating between those who have made attempts of committing suicide and those who do not.

Keywords : Suicide; risk; adolescence; Quantitative research; psychometry; building of psychological tests.

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