Psychological Reports, 1991, 68, 1254.
O Psychological Reports 1991
A TEST OF LESTER'S DEPRESSION PARADOX HYPOTHESIS OF SUICIDE ' DAVID LESTER Richard Stockton State College Summary.-In a sample of 97 high school students, serious suicidal ideation was associated with high scores on Beck's depression inventory and an external locus of control on Rotter's scale, confirming Lester's depression paradox hypothesis of suicide.
Lester (1989) argued that people who have high depression scores and who feel helpless (that is, have an external locus of control) would be most prone to suicide. To test this hypothesis, the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) and Rotter's (1966) locus of control scale were given anonymously to 52 male and 45 female high school students (M,,, = 16.0, SD = 0.7). Current suicidal ideation was measured by Item 9 of the Beck Depression Inventory, and depression was measured using the remaining 20 items. Of the four students with serious suicidal ideation, all four (100%) had scores above the median on depression (above 8) and above the median on the locus of control scale (above 10). Of the 25 students with mild suicidal ideation, 40% were above the median on both scales, and of the 67 students with no suicidal ideation, 18% were above the median on both scales. Comparing the seriously suicidal students with the remaining students gave a Fisher exact p = .005 while a chi-squared test on all three groups gave a X 2 2 = 15.77 ( P C .001). In addition, significantly more of those students who had considered suicide or threatened suicide in the past were above the median on both scores than of the nonsuicidal students, but no significant effect was found for having a history of attempted suicide. Thus, the present study confirmed that high depression combined with an external locus of control is associated with serious suicidal ideation. REFERENCES BECK,A. T., WARD,C. H., MENDELSON, M., MOCK,J., & ERBAUGH, J. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1961, 4, 561-571. LESTER,D. A depression paradox theory of suicide. Personality 6 Individual Dzferences, 1989, 10, 1103-1104. ROTTER,J. B. Generalized ex ctancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. ~s~cholo~ical~ono~ 1966, rapK 80, No. 1 (Whole No. 609). Accepted July 5, 1991
'Address correspondence co D. Lester, Ph.D., Psychology Program, Richard Stockton Stace College, Pomona, NJ 08240-9988.
O Psychological Reports 1991
A TEST OF LESTER'S DEPRESSION PARADOX HYPOTHESIS OF SUICIDE ' DAVID LESTER Richard Stockton State College Summary.-In a sample of 97 high school students, serious suicidal ideation was associated with high scores on Beck's depression inventory and an external locus of control on Rotter's scale, confirming Lester's depression paradox hypothesis of suicide.
Lester (1989) argued that people who have high depression scores and who feel helpless (that is, have an external locus of control) would be most prone to suicide. To test this hypothesis, the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) and Rotter's (1966) locus of control scale were given anonymously to 52 male and 45 female high school students (M,,, = 16.0, SD = 0.7). Current suicidal ideation was measured by Item 9 of the Beck Depression Inventory, and depression was measured using the remaining 20 items. Of the four students with serious suicidal ideation, all four (100%) had scores above the median on depression (above 8) and above the median on the locus of control scale (above 10). Of the 25 students with mild suicidal ideation, 40% were above the median on both scales, and of the 67 students with no suicidal ideation, 18% were above the median on both scales. Comparing the seriously suicidal students with the remaining students gave a Fisher exact p = .005 while a chi-squared test on all three groups gave a X 2 2 = 15.77 ( P C .001). In addition, significantly more of those students who had considered suicide or threatened suicide in the past were above the median on both scores than of the nonsuicidal students, but no significant effect was found for having a history of attempted suicide. Thus, the present study confirmed that high depression combined with an external locus of control is associated with serious suicidal ideation. REFERENCES BECK,A. T., WARD,C. H., MENDELSON, M., MOCK,J., & ERBAUGH, J. An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1961, 4, 561-571. LESTER,D. A depression paradox theory of suicide. Personality 6 Individual Dzferences, 1989, 10, 1103-1104. ROTTER,J. B. Generalized ex ctancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. ~s~cholo~ical~ono~ 1966, rapK 80, No. 1 (Whole No. 609). Accepted July 5, 1991
'Address correspondence co D. Lester, Ph.D., Psychology Program, Richard Stockton Stace College, Pomona, NJ 08240-9988.
