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Suicide Ideation, Depression, and Stressful
Life Events Among Gifted Adolescents
Arlene Metha & Ellen Hawley McWhirter
Differences in life-change events, life stress, depression, and suicide ideation were investigated in a mixed-ethnic sample of gifted (n = 34) and nongifted (n = 38) urban junior high school students. Results indicated that gifted students reported experiencing significantly fewer life-change events. The perceived stressfulness of the life-change events, levels of depression, and suicide ideation were similar among gifted and nongifted participants. Suicide ideation among the entire sample was significantly and positively correlated both with level of depression and with levels of past and recent stress. Recent stress and use of drugs or alcohol signifi- cantly predicted suicide ideation. Implications for counseling and for future research are discussed.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents 15 to 19 years of age and the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. (Berman & Jobes, 1995). Some research sug gests that 10% of young people attempt suicide (Smith & Crawford, 1986); this rate climbs to about 33% among troubled adolescents (Tomlinson-Keasey & Keasey, 1988). From 1980 to 1992, the suicide rate among children aged 10-14 increased by 120% (from 0.8 to 1.7). While suicide is still a rare event among children, the dramatic increase in suicide among the very young during the past decade underscores the need to improve our efforts in prevention and early intervention both for children and for adolescents (Centers for Disease Control, 1995). Recognizing the characteristics associated with youth at risk for suicide should be a primary concern of educa tors and mental health professionals (McWhirter, McWhirter, McWhirter, & McWhirter, 1993). A number of research studies have examined factors that appear to be related to suicidal risk. Two of those factors are depression and life stress. For example, Cohen-Sandier, Berman, and King (1982) studied life stress and child and adolescent suicidal behavior among
Arlene Metha is Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University, Tempe,· Ellen Hawley McWhirter is Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Journal for the Education of the Gifted. Vol. 20, No. 3, 1997, pp. 284-304. Copyright ©1997 The Association for the Gifted, Reston, VA 20191-1589.
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Suicide Ideation and Gifted Adolescents 285
a sample of 76 children between the ages of 5 and 14 years who had been discharged from a medical inpatient psychiatric unit. They found that the suicidal children had experienced significantly higher levels of stress during the 12 months prior to admission than those experienced by a control group of depressed children from the same facility. Ferguson (1983) investigated the relationship between life-change events, the perceived stressfulness of life-change events, depression, and suicide ideation among a sample of 205 white, middle-class sub urban ninth graders. Life-change events included moving to a new home, parents divorcing or separating, mother getting pregnant, breaking up with a close girlfriend or boyfriend, and so forth. Among his findings, Ferguson reported that females judged life-change events as more stressful than males judged the events; and a signifi cantly greater number of females than males reported suicide ideation. While Ferguson predicted that stress would be superior to depression in predicting suicide ideation in the sample of ninth- grade adolescents, he found that they were equally (and signifi cantly) correlated with suicide ideation. In a review of the research on life events, social support, and sui cide, Heikkinen, Aro, and Lonnqvist (1993) concurred that life events or precipitant stress play an important role in adolescent sui cide. Life changes and life stress have also been associated with depression. For example, Friedrich, Reams, and Jacobs (1982) stud ied life stress, social support, family environment, and depression among a sample of 132 eighth and ninth graders. They found greater life stress and lower family cohesion were the most powerful corre lates of depression. Mullins, Siegel, and Hodges (1985) obtained sim ilar findings among a sample of 134 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders; they reported a significant positive correlation between number of life changes and childhood depression. Although stressful life events have been documented as an important trigger in youth suicidal behavior, there is substantial evidence in the research literature that suggests adolescents attempt and complete suicide primarily because of psychiatric disorders such as depressive disorders, conduct disorder, and substance abuse disorder (Andrews & Lewinsohn, 1992; Brent et al., 1988,· Rich, Young, & Fowler, 1986; Shaffer &. Gould, 1987). Psychopathology and addictive disorders provide the major context for understanding suicidal behavior. It is estimated that more than 90% of completed and attempted suicides for all age groups have been associated with some type of mental disorder (Blumenthai, 1990; Garland &. Zigler, 1993; Moscicki et al., 1988; Rich et al., 1986; Shafii, Carrigan,
Suicide Ideation and Gifted Adolescents 287
rences). There were no reported cases of a completed suicide among the gifted in that sample. A recent study of 8,000 high-achieving high school teens reported that 29% had considered suicide, 4% had made a suicide attempt, and 67% knew a peer who had either attempted or completed suicide (Educational Communications, 1994).
Social-psychological Adjustment and the Gifted Some of the literature in gifted education characterizes gifted chil dren and youth as superior in emotional and social adjustment com pared to their nongifted peers (Altman, 1983; Glenn, 1978; Kaiser 1981; Tidwell, 1980). Nonetheless, others argue that the gifted expe rience a variety of social and emotional difficulties (Coleman Si Cross, 1988; Cross, Coleman, Si Stewart, 1993; Cross, Coleman, Si Terhaar-Yonkers, 1991). Research by Galbraith (1985) and Kunkel, Chapa, Patterson, and Walling (1992) yielded several socioemotional problem areas self-identified by gifted children and adolescents, including internal and external pressure to be perfect, boredom, ridicule from peers, and loneliness. Coleman and Cross (1988) found that some gifted adolescents perceived their giftedness in school as a "social handicap" and resorted to use coping strategies that masked their talents. Torrance (1961) suggested that some gifted feel like a "minority of one" (p. 31 ) and since creativity involves "an independence of mind, nonconformity to group pressures, or the breaking out of the mold, it is inevitable that highly creative chil dren will experience some unusual problems of adjustment" (p. 31). Similarly, Fine and Pitts (1980) suggest that as a minority, gifted stu dents often experience difficulty finding peers with whom to relate. They note that gifted and creative children often feel rejected by and isolated from their peers. Cross et al. (1993) found that gifted stu dents consistently reported that friends and other students per ceived them as "different." The junior high school years have been noted as a critical period for gifted students—a time when giftedness is often viewed by the gifted themselves as a social disadvantage (Kerr, 1991). Numerous other researchers have suggested that the added pres sures on the gifted are often significant enough to manifest in the form of alienation, separateness, or feelings of loneliness (Galbraith, 1985; Kaiser Si Berndt, 1985; McCants, 1985). According to Pfeffer, Conte, Plutchik, and Jerrett (1979), when these feelings of alienation are combined with intense emotional reactions and reduced self- image, there is a potential for psychosocial dysfunction. Leroux (1986) summarizes this potential as follows: "Gifted youngsters can
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have an overly demanding image of self because of their personal high expectations. When a discrepancy occurs between ideal self- aspirations, unrealistic goals and low self-esteem, there is the poten tial for high risk" (p. 77). Manaster and Powell (1983) suggest that gifted adolescents are in particular jeopardy because they are different and do not fit. They are often "out of stage," "out of phase," and "out of sync." In addi tion, they are cognitively out of stage since they typically have mul tiple talents that often go unharnessed and unrecognized. They may also be socially out of phase since they can feel alienated and distant from or without a peer group, and they may be psychologically out of sync with themselves or their environment. As a result, they often feel insecure and anxious. Delisle (1990) hypothesizes that few gifted adolescents are equally advanced in their intellectual, social, physical, and emo tional development. Thus, they are prone to experience a form of "dissynchronous" (p. 224) development that results in confusion when the gifted child or adolescent interacts with peers or adults.
The Gifted and Stress Webb, Meckstroth, and Tolan (1982) claim that some of the underly ing myths about gifted children add to the Stressors faced by this par ticular subpopulation of youth. These myths include: "They have everything going their way.... They can succeed without help.... They are stable and mature emotionally. ... They have gotten some thing for nothing.... They naturally want to be social isolates" (p. 9). Delisle (1984) suggests that perfectionism may influence suicidal behavior in gifted youngsters. Additional Stressors on gifted adoles cents that increase their vulnerability and risk of suicide include high self- and societal expectations, the need to feel their gifts can and should be used to benefit society, and the strain of being intel lectually capable while at the same time being socially immature (Delisle, 1984). Of particular concern, Dahlberg (1992) notes that gifted youth who are suicidal frequently select highly lethal meth ods of self-destruction, "turn(ing) their intellect upon themselves" (p. 9). While Dahlberg's (1992) findings remain speculative, his con cerns warrant further investigation, particularly in light of the strong evidence that suggests the presence of a firearm in the home increases the risk of suicide for both genders and across all age groups even after other risk factors such as depression and alcohol abuse have been controlled (Brent et al., 1991; Brent et al., 1988; Kellermann & Reay, 1986; Kellermann et al, 1992).
290 Journal for the Education of the Gifted
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the present research was to identify whether gifted and nongifted adolescents differ in terms of the number and per ceived stressfulness of life-change events, depression, and suicide ideation. In addition, the relationship between stress, depression, and suicide ideation is examined within the gifted and nongifted subsamples. Finally, in view of the number of studies that have found a relationship between stress, depression, drug and alcohol use, and parent death in predicting suicidal behavior, the present study examines the utility of stress, depression, drug and alcohol use, and parent death as predictors of suicide ideation among gifted and nongifted adolescents.
Method
Participants Participants were a volunteer sample of 72 seventh- and eighth- grade students from an inner-city elementary school district in a large southwestern city. Thirty-four (47%) of the participants were gifted and 38 (53%) were nongifted. Both the gifted and nongifted population were comparable in terms of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, and age. Gifted students were enrolled in a district-wide gifted program that was housed in an inner-city school. These students had demonstrated achievement, potential, or both in a variety of areas that included specific academic aptitude, creativ ity, leadership ability, visual or performing arts ability, psychomo- tor ability, or general intellectual ability. The nongifted students were drawn from five regular seventh-grade social studies classes in the same district. The researchers were unable to gain access to school records, thus it was not possible to provide information on the academic achievement of the nongifted students. With respect to gender, the sample consisted of 30 males (42%) and 42 females (58%); with respect to self-identified race/ethnicity, the sample con sisted of 31 Whites (43%), 29 Hispanics (40%), 6 Native-Americans (8%), 3 African-Americans (4%), 2 Asian-Americans (3%), and 1 Other (1%). The average age of the gifted students was 13 years, while the average age of the nongifted students was 14 years.
Instruments Adolescent Life-Change Event Scale. The Adolescent Life-Change Event Scale developed by Yeaworth et al. (1980) and modified by
Suicide Ideation and Gifted Adolescents 291
Ferguson (1981) was used as a measure of life-change events and per ceived stressfulness. The scale consists of two parts, each with 33 items. In Part 1, adolescents indicate how upset they would be, given the occurrence of a particular life event. For each of the 33 events presented, response options range from "A = not at all upset" (1 point) to "E = extremely upset" (5 points). In Part 2, each of the 33 events are presented again, and respondents, are asked to indicate (yes or no) whether they experienced this event in the past one year, and whether they had experienced this event prior to the past year (yes or no). Sample life-change events include "parents' divorce," "getting a job," and "moving to a new home." The number of life- change events experienced by participants was calculated by sum ming the "yes" responses, which were worth 1 point each. Following the methodology employed by Ferguson (1983), stress as measured by the ALCES was calculated three different ways. "Recent Stress" represents the sum of the weights (degree of stress- fulness as perceived by the participant, ranging from 1-5 with 5 indi cating most stressful) associated with each life-change event experienced by the participant within the previous year. "Past Stress" represents the sum of the weights of the life-change events experienced more than one year prior to testing, and "Total Stress" represents the sum of the weights of the life-change events experi enced ever (within or before the year prior to testing). The weight of item 20 ("Thinking about harming myself") was removed from these three calculations of stress whenever these variables were cor related with suicide ideation.
Beck Depression Inventory. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1978) was used with two minor language modifications sug gested by Ferguson (1983). Permission to use the measure as modified by Ferguson was obtained. The BDI is composed of 21 sets of self- statements about recent (within the previous few days) feelings or behaviors. Respondents indicate which statement in the set best reflects how they have been feeling. Scoring the BDI consisted of totaling the numerical value (0 through 3) of each of the 21 sets of self- statements for each subject. The potential range of total scores on the BDI is 0 to 63. Scores from 10 to 15 are considered as "mildly" depressed, scores from 16 to 23 as "moderately" depressed, and scores from 24 to 63 as "severely" depressed (Bumberry, Oliver, & McClure, 1978). The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the present sample was .83. The weight of item 9 (thoughts of killing self) was removed from the calculation of the total BDI score in analyses assessing the correlation between depression and suicide ideation.
Suicide Ideation and Gifted Adolescents 293
instruments. Any student who appeared to be at risk was immedi ately referred to the school social worker or counselor. Referrals were made for eight nongifted and four gifted students. There is no way we could determine if the participants answered truthfully. For ethical reasons, during the debriefing we felt obligated to mention that in an emergency situation, it may be necessary for us to contact a school counselor or social worker.
Analysis and Results
Differences between gifted and nongifted students in the number and perceived stressfulness of life-change events experienced were inves tigated using MANOVA procedures (see Table 1). As indicated in Table 1, a significant multivariate effect occurred for program (Gifted and Nongifted) F(3, 68) = 3.00, p = .036. Univariate analyses revealed significant differences between gifted and nongifted students with respect to the number of life-change events experienced within the previous year (recent events), F(l, 70) = 5.53, p = .037, and prior to one year ago (past events), F(l, 70) = 5.63, p = .02. In both cases, nongifted students reported experiencing a higher number of life-change events. There were no significant program differences in the overall perceived stressfulness of these events F(l, 70) = .98, p = .33.
Table 1 Means and Standard Deviations for Program Differences in Number and Perceived Stressfulness of Life-Change Events
Program 1 Number Number Perceived of Recent Events 2 of Past Events 3 Stressfulness of Events 4 M SD M SD M SD
Gifted (n-34) 7.29 3.06 7.15 3.47 73.15 14.
Nongifted (n = 38) 9.34 4.81 9.71 5.38 69.08 19.
if(3, 68) = 3.00, p =. 2F(1, 70) = 5.53, p = .037, ES -. 3f(l, 70) = 5.63, p = .02, ES =. "F(l, 70)= .98, p = .33, ES =. Note: ES = Effect Size
Table 2
Standard Deviations for Past Stress, Recent Stress, Suicide Ideation, and Depression by Program
Program
(^1)
MPast Stress^
SD
Recent Stress
3
M
SD
Suicide Ideation
4
M
SD
Depression
5
M
SD
VO to
(n Gifted (^) = 34)
(n Nongifted (^) = 38)
.
.
TO § cr. a o § bo* to* c o
if(4, (^) 59) (^) = (^) .91; (^) p (^) = (^).
2p(l, 70)
(^) = (^) 5.53,
(^) p (^) = (^) .037, ES
(^) = (^).
3f|l, (^) 70) (^) = (^) 5.63,
(^) p (^) » .02, ES
(^) = (^).
V(l, (^) 70)=
.98, (^) p (^) = (^) .33, (^) ES (^) = (^).
5£S =
(^).
Note: ES
(^) = (^) Effect Size
Table 3
Forward Regression Analyses for Prediction of Suicide Ideation
Source
df
R
i? (^) Change
p
Beta (Final)
T
SigT
Recent Stress
Drug/Alcohol Use
Table 4
Percentage Experiencing Life-Change Events Within Past Year by Gender, Program, and Race/Ethnicity
ALCES Item
Male/Female
Gifted/Nongifted
White/Hispanic
(n-30)
(n-42)
(n-34)
(n = 38)
(n-31)
(n-29)
M
F
G
NG
W
H
Making new friends
Parents getting divorced or separated
Problem with dating
having trouble with alcoholFamily member (other than self)
Flunking a grade in school
A close friend getting pregnant
A close friend thinking about suicide
Failing one or more subjects in school
Trouble with teacher or principal
Being arrested by police
Getting badly hurt or sick
Breaking up with a close girlfriend or boyfriend
30304023533020 <15 1727 <15<15^100
4724 <15 382621 <15<15 18 <15<15^100
423219 522926 <15<15 16 29 <15^100
Parent losing a job
Losing a favorite pet
Hassling with parents
Hassling with brother or sister
Moving to a new home
Thinking about harming myself
Change in physical appearance (glasses, braces)
(overweight, underweight, too tall, too short, acne) 47Having trouble with any of these
Parent or other relative getting very sick
A close friend attempting suicide
Starting a job
Getting into drugs or alcohol
the family (grandparent, aunt, etc.)Having someone new move in with
Starting a new school
3330 <15^33 <15 47 )47 17 <15 4057635317
than 15% of the sample. Note: Only life-change events that were cited by at least 15% of the sample are included. Items 4, 16, 22, 25, 27, 32, and 33 were cited by less
Suicide Ideation and Gifted Adolescents 299
peers—stress as measured by the perceived stressfulness of specific life-change events may be different than stress related to high expectations or pressure to be successful and competent in multi ple areas. Gifted students in this study also did not significantly differ from nongifted students with respect to level of depression and suicide ideation. This finding appears to be inconsistent with the nonem- pirical literature on gifted adolescents that suggests that gifted stu dents are often vulnerable to stress and depression due to such factors as high expectations and social alienation. However, the finding that recent stress and drug and alcohol use are significant predictors of suicide ideation for both gifted and nongifted students has important implications. One implication is that a comprehen sive prevention program that includes coping skills for dealing with life changes coupled with refusal skills for resisting drug and alcohol use might benefit all students. School-based programs that are designed to help adolescents learn adaptive coping skills that will decrease their susceptibility to a variety of mental health problems such as depression are especially needed (Rice & Meyer, 1994). Coy (1995) recommends that schools not only provide comprehensive suicide prevention programs, but that they develop written suicide prevention policies and provide staff with training to recognize and respond to suicide warning signs. One of the major limitations of this study was the small sample size. A similar study with a larger and more representative sample would have allowed a more in-depth exploration of gender and race/ethnic differences in stress, depression, and suicide ideation. Since the numbers of subjects in both groups were so small, this research serves more as an exploratory pilot study. It is worth not ing that securing permission to conduct the study was a difficult process. One school district withdrew permission after a student in the district committed suicide; administrators were fearful that par ticipation in the study might elicit imitative or copycat suicidal behavior. This points out the need for researchers to address the legitimate fears and concerns both of parents and of administrators and to point out that the early identification, screening, and referral of suicidal youth is one of the major responsibilities of the school. The data generated by this research should be of value to school offi cials and mental health professionals as they attempt to recognize the psychological needs of both gifted and talented youth and their nongifted peers. We hope that together they can help reverse the ris ing number of suicide attempts and completions among our nation's youth.
300 Journal for the Education of the Gifted
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