AGGRESSION AND PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT IN URBAN MALE ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS.
Item
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Title
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AGGRESSION AND PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT IN URBAN MALE ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS.
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Identifier
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AAI8713785
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identifier
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8713785
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Creator
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PERDOMO, ERNESTO L.
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Contributor
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VERA PASTER
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Date
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1987
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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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This study explores and compares the presence, influence and the direction of aggression and the influence of perceived social support on the suicidal behavior of urban male adolescent suicide attempters. An extensive review of the literature from psychodynamic and sociological perspectives is presented.;Twenty five psychiatrically hospitalized urban male adolescent suicide attempters and twenty five non-psychiatrically diagnosed "normal" urban male adolescents were matched for race and were administered two tests to assess aggression and the direction of aggression and three tests to assess perceived social support. The resulting scores were submitted to a correlation and t-test analysis to test the hypotheses. In addition, clinical data from the psychiatric evaluation of the suicidal subjects were used to illustrate the findings.;The study supports the hypotheses that male urban adolescents who are suicidal are more aggressive and perceive themselves as having less social support than non-suicidals. The findings indicate that there is a clearer relationship between aggression and suicidal behavior than between perceived social support and suicidal behavior, and that there is a significant inverse relationship between aggression and perceived social support.;Furthermore, the findings are ambiguous on the hypothesis that male urban adolescents who are suicidal direct their aggression inward to a greater degree than do non-suicidals. The study indicates that the suicidal subjects experience more self-criticism and more delusional guilt than do the non-suicidal subjects. In that sense they are more intropunitive. The suicidal subjects, however, are not more prone to turn their aggression against themselves than are the non-suicidals. The study suggests that the propensity to turn aggression against oneself is not a stable trait and that aggression is generally exteriorized.;The writer speculates that the turning of aggression against self occurs as a recourse when more direct expression of aggression is blocked. Implications for clinical applications 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
