An analysis of adolescent suicide attempts: the expendable child.

Assessed the concept of the "expendable child" syndrome proposed by Sabbath (1969) as a contributing factor in adolescent suicide attempts. It was hypothesized that suicidal adolescents would be rated higher on a measure of "expendability" than would a psychiatric control group of adolescents with no known history of suicide attempts or ideation. Forty adolescents, ages 13-24, who had been seen in psychotherapy at a teen-age health clinic, were rated by their psychotherapists on suicidality and a 12-item scale of expendability (a sense of being unwanted and/or a burden on the family). As predicted, suicidal adolescents received significantly higher ratings on the expendability measure than nonsuicidal adolescents. Results support the concept that feeling expendable is a characteristic of suicidal adolescents. Implications for prevention and treatment of adolescent suicidality are discussed.

Delay of gratification in bulimic and restricting anorexia nervosa patients.

This investigation posited that impairment in the delay of gratification is an etiological factor in anorexia nervosa that differentiates between bulimic anorexic and restricting anorexic subgroups. Forty-eight women aged 18-32 served as subjects. Among subjects aged 18-29, restricting anorexics scored significantly higher than bulimic anorexics on delay. Treatment implications indicate that restricting anorexics would benefit from intervention designed to decrease impulse control, while bulimic anorexics would benefit from intervention designed to increase delaying capacity.