haviors; differences were not as pronounced for Black adolescents.
However, rural subjects were found to be significantly less knowledgeable about suicide than were urban subjects. To the extent that lack of knowledge about suicide is a factor that contributes to suicide attempts, this finding could indicate that rural adolescents may be more vulnerable to suicide.
In addition to depression, several other factors have been found to be associated with suicide in rural adolescent populations. In one study of three groups of junior and senior high schools students (total N = 1050) recruited in rural counties of a mid-Atlantic state, (those who had made a prior suicide attempt, those reporting high levels of depressed mood or suicidal ideation, and those who were not depressed or suicidal) Wagner, Cole and Schwartzman (1995) examined for factors that might place rural adolescents at risk for suicide.
Findings showed that adolescents with a history of a suicide attempt reported more frequent stresses related to parents, lack of adult supports outside of the home, police, and sexuality (i.e., concerns about pregnancy, pressure to have sex, getting sexually transmitted diseases), compared with both depressed/suicide ideators and nondepressed adolescents. Suicide attempters were also more likely than the other adolescents to report that they were physically hurt by a parent, that they ran away from home, that they lived apart from both parents, and that they knew someone who had completed suicide.
De Wilde, Kienhorst, Diekstra and Wolters (1993) conducted a comprehensive study of several psychological characteristics of adolescent suicide attempters living in rural areas of the Netherlands. Methods involved using a semistructured interview to gather information related to the psychological characteristics of three groups of adolescents: 48 suicide attempters and 66 depressed and 43 nondepressed (normal) subjects who never a...