LEVELS OF OBJECT REPRESENTATION AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURES IN ADOLESCENT SUICIDE.
Item
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Title
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LEVELS OF OBJECT REPRESENTATION AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURES IN ADOLESCENT SUICIDE.
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Identifier
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AAI8319796
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identifier
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8319796
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Creator
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SCHAUL, JONATHAN F.
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Contributor
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Laurence J. Gould
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Date
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1983
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The current study explores the problem of adolescent suicidality from an object relations perspective. While the growing problem of teenage suicide can and must be viewed from a number of different interrelated perspectives, this dissertation focuses specifically on the role that internal object representations play in determining an adolescent's proclivity toward suicidal action.;In an attempt to further the understanding of the structural-cognitive factors mediating suicidal behavior, an analysis and comparison of both the levels of object representation and the cognitive capacities of suicidal and nonsuicidal depressed adolescents is undertaken. The major hypothesis states that adolescent depression is mediated by the cognitive organization of object representations and that suicidal depressed adolescents reveal lower levels of object representation and a greater cognitive impairment than nonsuicidal depressed adolescents.;An extensive review of the literature focuses on normative adolescent development, adolescent depression and adolescent suicide. Specific hypotheses regarding levels of object representation, proclivity toward assuming an action modality, concretization of thought, cognitive rigidity, and temporal perspective are postulated.;A retrospective review of the records and psychological test protocols of 39 inpatient depressed adolescents, half of whom were suicidal, provided the data base for this study. The results provide preliminary support for the importance of understanding structural considerations in adolescent suicidality. In particular, structural dimensions in the development and maintenance of object representations, the specific cognitive ability to maintain a future time perspective, and a tendency to utilize an action modality play a significant role in distinguishing between depressed suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents. Only modest confirmation was found for hypothesis regarding concretization of thought and cognitive rigidity. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
