Cited by 87Suicide and Self-Harm StudiesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychometric Methodologies and Testing

Psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) in adolescents

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Holi, Matti M, Pelkonen, Mirjami, Karlsson, Linnea, Kiviruusu, Olli, Ruuttu, Titta, Heilä, Hannele, Tuisku, Virpi, Marttunen, Mauri·2005·BMC Psychiatry

Abstract

Background: Accurate assessment of suicidality is of major importance in both clinical and research settings. The Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) is a well-established clinician-rating scale but its suitability to adolescents has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity, and to test an appropriate cutoff threshold for the SSI in a depressed adolescent outpatient population and controls. Methods: 218 adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic patients suffering from depressive disorders and 200 age- and sex-matched school-attending controls were evaluated by the SSI for presence and severity of suicidal ideation. Internal consistency, discriminative-, concurrent-, and construct validity as well as the screening properties of the SSI were evaluated. Results: Cronbach's α for the whole SSI was 0.95. The SSI total score differentiated patients and controls, and increased statistically significantly in classes with increasing severity of suicidality derived from the suicidality items of the K-SADS-PL diagnostic interview. Varimax-rotated principal component analysis of the SSI items yielded three theoretically coherent factors suggesting construct validity. Area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.84 for the whole sample and 0.80 for the patient sample. The optimal cutoff threshold for the SSI total score was 3/4 yielding sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 88.9% in this population. Conclusions: SSI appears to be a reliable and a valid measure of suicidal ideation for depressed adolescents.

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  • Using a BSSI cutoff of 4 or greater to indicate clinically significant suicide ideation is consistent with guidelines for adolescent psychiatric patients and prior research with adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

    “In defining our PC and SI groups, we used a cutoff of 4 or greater on the BSSI to indicate clinically significant suicide ideation, which is consistent with guidelines for adolescent psychiatric patients (Holi et al. 2005) and prior research concucted with adolescent psychiatric inpatients (e.g., Stewart et al. 2017b, c).”

    From Life stress and suicide in adolescents (2019) · cites this paper as Holi et al. 2005

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  1. Goldberg D The detection of minor psychiatric illness by questionnaire 1972 Oxford: Oxford University Press

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Authors
Holi, M. M., Pelkonen, M., Karlsson, L., Kiviruusu, O., Ruuttu, T., Heilä, H., Tuisku, V., & Marttunen, M.
Affiliations
Helsinki University Hospital (FI)
Corresponding author
Holi, Matti M
Venue
BMC Psychiatry
Published
2005-02-03
Volume
5
Issue
1
Pages
8-8
ISSN
1471-244X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1767123028
Cited by
87
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
FWCI
1.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMC Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion)
  • STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Yrjö Jahnssonin Säätiö
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Keywords
suicidal ideation, adolescents, adolescent depression, psychometric properties, reliability statistics, validity, cut-off values, suicide risk screening, K-SADS-PL, psychiatric outpatients
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Ambulatory Care, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Suicide, Reproducibility of Results

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