Gender Differences in the Suicide-Related Behaviors of Adolescents and Young Adults 1 Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling 2 University of Nebraska — Lincoln Peter Lewinsohn, Paul Rohde, and John Seeley Oregon Research Institute Candice M. Monson and Kathryn A. Meyer University of Nebraska — Lincoln Richard Langford Humboldt State University Gender differences in suicide-related behaviors were examined in an older adolescent and a young adult sample (primarily Caucasian). Suicide-related behaviors were assessed by the Life Attitudes Schedule (LAS) as well as by measures of depressive symptomatology and hopelessness. The LAS measures a broad continuum of potentially life-diminishing or life-enhancing behaviors. There are four LAS content-category subscales: overtly suicidal and death-related, self-related, risk and injury-related, and health-related behaviors. As hypothesized, in both samples, gender differences in the expression of suicide-related behaviors were obtained. Males from both samples endorsed substantially more risk-taking and injury-producing behaviors than females. Males in both samples also reported more negative health-related behaviors than females. In contrast, females reported more symptoms of depression than males. Hopelessness scores only differentiated male and female young adults; male and female adolescents did not differ significantly on the hopelessness Sex Roles, Vol. 39, Nos. 11/12, 1998 839 0360 ¯ 0025/98/1200 ¯ 0839$15.00/0 Ó 1998 Plenum Publishing Corporation 1 This research was partially supported by a 1995 University of Nebraska summer faculty fellowship grant awarded to Dr. Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling. This work was made possible through the help of a number of excellent research assistants such as Blake Evans, Juli Germer, and Nathan Seiler. This paper is based, in part, on Jennifer Langhinrichsen’ s doctoral dissertation. 2 To whom correspondence concerning this article should be addressed at 326 Life Sciences Building, Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688-0002.