Extending the Concurrent Validity of the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview to Inpatient Adolescents

The Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI) was created to address limitations in existing suicide assessments and its validity was evaluated in the original publication. However, this work has not yet been extended to inpatient adolescents, a population in which suicide assessment is crucial. Moreover, information on the psychometric properties of the SITBI has not been provided by other groups beyond the developers of the SITBI. The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of the suicide ideation, attempt, plan, and gesture modules of the SITBI with inpatient adolescents (N = 106, 64.8 % female, Mage = 14.63), as an extension to previous validation efforts using this measure. Concurrent validity was examined with established interview-based and self-report measures of suicide ideation and suicide intent. The SITBI demonstrated adequate agreement with other measures, suggesting adequate validity for the suicide ideation, attempt, plan, and gesture modules in a sample of inpatient adolescents.