Data relevant to variations in self-destructive behavior are reported
for 40 female borderline inpatients. These data were assessed in relation
to measures of the patients' suicidal intent, the lethality of their
attempts, and their empirically derived suicide risk. Variation in the
seriousness of suicide attempts was accounted for primarily by age, number
of suicide attempts, presence of an eating disorder, psychotic features,
and family history variables, with generalized anxiety disorder as a
mitigating factor. In addition to age and number of attempts, concomitant
histrionic and antisocial features were differentially predictive of the
empirically derived risk of suicide.
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