Nonthreatening,Objective Psychometric Identification of Students at Risk for Depression and/or Suicidal Behavior

The literature specifically dealing with the use of generally nonthreatening, objective psychometric assessments to identify students in higher education at risk for depression and suicid in the decade of the eighties discloses promising progress. The conventional personality inventories such as the California Psychological Inventory, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Eysenck inventories, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire include scales measuring traits or dispositions which characterize the person prone to depression and possible suicide. Furthermore, in two seemingly unlikely devices, the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and the Scholastic Aptitude Test, similarly predictive scales have been identified. The constellation of factors seems to include among others, introversion, achievement needs characterized by strong needs for independence, the particular kind of inquiring intellect valuing knowledge above all for its intrinsic worth, a propensity to judge one's self unduly harshly, and high anxiety.