Date of Award:

12-2016

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling

Department name when degree awarded

Special Education and Rehabilitation

Committee Chair(s)

Jared C. Schultz (Committee Co-Chair), Scott W. Ross (Committee Co-Chair)

Committee

Jared C. Schultz

Committee

Scott W. Ross

Committee

Kathleen M. Oertle

Committee

Marilyn Hammond

Committee

Timothy A. Slocum

Abstract

Suicide is a major public health issue and the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. People with disabilities are one group that may be at high risk for suicide. This dissertation presents three studies that examined suicidal thoughts and behaviors in a national sample of individuals with and without disabilities. They also examined the ways in which depression scores and sociodemographic factors such as gender, religion, race, and employment, interact with disability status to influence suicidality. I found that people with disabilities reported more suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts and were more likely to believe that they would attempt suicide in the future when compared to people without disabilities. This was still true even when I took into account their higher depression scores and demographic risk factors such as unemployment and not being in a romantic relationship. Additionally, I found that people with psychiatric disabilities (mental illnesses) were more likely to be at risk for suicide than those with other disabilities, even when I took into account depression symptoms and demographic risk factors. However, even people with other types of disabilities were at greater risk for suicide than people without disabilities.

Checksum

5db89c90944733f3da9362f59daadf6e

Download

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .