TL Banner 26 Jul - 2 Aug - Page 2

Depression inventory (CES-D)23 based on questions about the past week (items included “You were bothered by things that usually don't bother you,” “You felt depressed,” “You felt lonely,” and “You felt sad”; 0 = never or rarely, 3 = most of the time or all of the time; Cronbach α = 0.81 for boys and 0.85 for girls). The measure for alcohol abuse consisted of the sum of 9 items that indicate problems associated with alcohol use during the past 12 months (items included “You got into trouble with your parents because you had been drinking,” “You did something you later regretted because you had been drinking,” and “You were sick to your stomach or threw up after drinking”; 0 = never, 4 = 5 or more times). Items included in this measure are similar to ones typically used to indicate alcohol problems among adolescents.24 Two questions pertained to recent experiences with suicide: “Have any of your friends tried to kill themselves during the past 12 months?” and “Have any of your family tried to kill themselves during the past 12 months?” (When responses to these questions were affirmative, respondents were then asked “Have any of them succeeded?”) Finally, victimization experiences, because they have been linked to suicidality among gay and lesbian youths,5 were included as suicide risk factors. Victimization was measured with affirmative responses to any of the following 4 items: “Someone pulled a knife or gun on you,” “You were jumped,” “Someone shot you,” and “Someone cut or stabbed you” (1 = victimized).