Fitter, Megan2015-10-072015-10-072015-05http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/17076My senior thesis describes the development and validation of a coding system for Suicide Narrative Interviews. The purpose of this research is to validate my coding system so that it can be used to measure changes in suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and support seeking during times of crises. The sample is derived from an NIMH funded comparative efficacy trial of Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT) and Non Directive Supportive Therapy (NDST). It is comprised of participants ages 12-18 that score highly on the Beck Depression Index and the Suicide Ideation Questionnaire. Three hypotheses were tested. (1) Internal measures of expectancies, coherence, and support seeking will covariate with each other. (2). Internal measures will correlate with external measures used in the study, specifically expectancies will display a negative correlation with attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on the Relational Structures Questionnaire, In addition, expectancies will display a negative correlation with suicide ideation and behavior on the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale. (3) Maternal and peer support seeking will be associated with lower levels of suicide ideation, but the effect for peers will be smaller than that of mothers. I found that coherence, expectancies, and support seeking had significant correlations with each other. Positive expectancies related to lower maternal attachment avoidance and lower suicide ideation. Finally I found that support seeking was associated with lower levels of suicide ideation, and that the effect was stronger for mothers than peers.en-USResearch Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::PsychologyThesis