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1993 26: 159J Learn DisabilDeborah D. Huntington and William N. Bender

Adolescents with Learning Disabilities at Risk? Emotional Well-Being, Depression, Suicide  

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REPORTS

Adolescents with Learning Disabilities at Risk? Emotional Weil-Being, Depression, Suicide

Deborah D. Huntington and William N. Bender

As recently as 5 years ago, very little information on the emotional well-being of adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) was available. However, a great deal of research has been con-ducted recently and some of the implications are unnerving. Research on self-concept, attribu-tions, anxiety, depression, and suicide among adolescents with LD is examined for the purpose of detecting consistency of indicators concerning these emotional and developmental variables. The research indicates that the emotional development of many adolescents with LD is not notably positive, and these students appear to be at increased risk for severe depression and suicide. The discussion highlights methodological pitfalls and developmental issues. Practical implications are suggested.

T here is considerable empirical evidence that children with LD differ from normally achieving

children in terms of behavioral and personality variables, including self-concept, locus of control, and temper-ament (Bender, 1985, 1986; Bursuck, 1989; Kistner, Osborne, & LaVerrier, 1988; McKinney & Feagans, 1983; Palmer, Drummond, Tollison, & Zink-graff, 1982; Winne, Woodlands, & Wong, 1982). However, even as re-cently as Bender's review in 1987, very little data were available on these vari-ables among adolescents with LD. Since then, research has suggested that some of these deficits are also ex-hibited by adolescents with learning disabilities (Dollinger, Horn, & Boarini, 1988; Hayes & Sloat, 1988; Heavey, Adelman, Nelson, & Smith, 1989).

Furthermore, there is some tentative evidence of more serious emotional and personality problems among ado-lescents with learning disabilities.

While deficits in self-concept may negatively affect school achievement and social/emotional relationships, there is no evidence that this deficit would be life-threatening in any way. However, evidence indicating a higher risk for suicide would certainly be of interest, because of the life-threatening nature of this problem. Recent evi-dence has suggested that adolescents with learning disabilities demonstrate higher anxiety levels, more frequent and more serious bouts of depression, and higher rates of suicide than adoles-cents without disabilities (Dollinger et al., 1988; Hayes & Sloat, 1988; Maag & Behrens, 1989; Ritter, 1989). Studies in these areas are still fairly rare, and no evidence has related deficits in self-concept and/or locus of control to these more recently studied, and potentially more serious, emotional problems. However, it would seem reasonable to explore this potential connection further.

The purpose of this article is to pre-sent the available information on the emotional well-being of adolescents with learning disabilities in five differ-ent areas: self-concept, attribution, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Ob-viously, this variable selection process was somewhat arbitrary—we could have chosen other variables, such as behavior problems or social relation-ships, for inclusion here. However, some limitations were necessary, and we selected these five variables for review because various researchers studying depression and suicide among nondisabled populations have suggested that relationships may exist among them (Hayes & Sloat, 1990; Peck, 1985).

Every data-based research study that measured these five variables in ado-lescent populations with learning dis-abilities is included in this review. These studies were obtained from a computerized search of the literature from the last 9 years, as well as a hand search of references in each article ob-tained on the computerized search. This search technique resulted in iden-tification of 36 empirically based arti-cles; of those, 31 involved specific com-parisons of adolescents with learning disabilities to nondisabled adolescents on the five variables of interest. We also reviewed a number of studies re-

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lated to these variables in younger children.

Self-Concept

Studies of the self-concept of adoles-cents with LD yielded inconsistent re-sults during the first decade of research (Copeland & Weissbrad, 1983; Omizo & Amerikaner, 1985; Silverman & Zig-mond, 1983; Tollefson et al., 1982). Some studies have demonstrated dif-ferences on certain self-concept mea-sures (Omizo & Amerikaner, 1985)—a result that parallels the earlier research on children with learning disabilities-while others did not show such differ-ences (Silverman & Zigmond, 1983; Tollefson et al., 1982).

This confusion began to clear some-what when a more refined understand-ing of self-concept was developed and explored. Global self-concept, which was the typical measure used in the early research, refers to the general view one has of oneself; academic self-concept refers to one's perception of himself or herself as a student (Chap-man, 1988). When researchers began to compare adolescents with learning disabilities to nondisabled adolescents on academic self-concept, serious def-icits in the former were demonstrated fairly consistently (Chapman, 1988; Hiebert, Wong, & Hunter, 1982; Kru-tilla & Benson, 1990; Renick, 1987). For example, Chapman investigated the academic self-concept of adolescents with learning disabilities and normally achieving junior high students over 3 academic years. Seventy-eight ado-lescents with LD were identified and matched with 71 normally achieving students according to IQ, gender, classroom teacher, and socioeconomic status. Academic self-concept was as-sessed with the Perception of Ability Scale for Students (Boersma & Chap-man, 1990). The adolescents with LD scored significantly lower than the nondisabled adolescents in terms of academic self-concept. Furthermore, there was no significant change in the

JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES

academic self-concept of the adoles-cents with LD over time.

Although comparisons of the global self-concept of adolescents with LD and normally achieving adolescents have produced inconsistent results, re-cent research confirms Bender's (1987) suggestion that adolescents with LD have a less positive academic self-concept than their nondisabled peers (Chapman, 1988; Hiebert et al., 1982; Krutilla & Benson, 1990; Renick, 1987). We clearly need more information on the self-concept of adolescents with learning disabilities, as well as informa-tion on the correlates of their deficit that may affect the adolescents' over-all emotional well-being. Regression studies that specify complex, multiple-variable relationships would be partic-ularly useful here, as a first step.

Attributions of Adolescents with LD

Another area of concern is attribu-tion of control over one's fate (Bender, 1987). Individuals who attribute suc-cess or failure at a certain task to their own skills, ability, or behavior are said to have an internal attribution or an in-ternal locus of control (Gregory, Shana-han, & Walberg, 1986). In contrast, external attribution or external locus of control is demonstrated when individ-uals attribute success or failure at tasks to factors outside of their influence, such as luck, fate, or the behavior of others (Hoy, 1986). Furthermore, re-search on attribution uses two basic methods of investigation, dispositional and situational (Cooley & Ayers, 1988). In a dispositional measure of attribu-tion, a student is asked a series of ques-tions concerning attributions in a number of hypothetical situations. In a situational measure, the student is in-volved in one or more actual achieve-ment situations, such as a brief spelling task or a series of math problems. Be-fore and/or after the task the student is questioned about his or her attribu-tions specific to that task.

The majority of studies on the attribu-tion of adolescents with LD have found attributional differences between those students and normally achieving stu-dents (Aponik & Dembo, 1983; Gard-ner, Warren, & Gardner, 1977; Halla-han, Gajar, Cohen, & Tarver, 1978; Jacobsen, Lowery, & DuCette, 1986; Kistner et al., 1988; Tollefson et al., 1982). However, one study failed to demonstrate differences between these groups (Heavey et al., 1989).

Jacobsen et al. (1986) designed a dis-positional measure to compare the at-tribution patterns of 37 students with learning disabilities and 67 nondis-abled peers. These students were all in the seventh or eighth grade and had similar racial and socioeconomic back-grounds. Interview questions focused on attributions for hypothetical success/ failure situations. Normally achieving adolescents followed the expected pat-tern of attributing success more inter-nally and failure more externally. However, adolescents with learning disabilities attributed success more in-ternally in terms of effort and attrib-uted failure more internally in terms of lack of ability. Upon examining these findings, Jacobsen and her colleagues concluded that the attributional pattern of adolescents with LD indicates that they are not benefiting from the ex-pected positive self-esteem associated with success that others experience.

Kistner et al. (1988) utilized disposi-tional measures in a longitudinal study to examine the relation of achievement attributes to academic progress and to detect developmental patterns of attri-butional styles. Thirty-four students with LD in Grades 3 through 8 were administered a modification of the Effort-Ability-External Scale used by Nicholls (1979) and Pearl (1982), as well as the Intellectual Achievement Re-sponsibility Scale (Crandall, Katlovsky, & Crandall, 1965). Academic progress was indexed by changes in achieve-ment scores over a 2-year span and by teachers' ratings of students' success and classroom behavior. Results indi-cated that students with LD who attrib-uted failure to controllable causes made

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the greatest academic gains and were rated by their teachers as exhibiting the most appropriate classroom behavior. This suggests that negative attribution problems may be correlated with more serious problems among children and young adolescents with LD.

In conclusion, the majority of studies have found significant attributional differences between adolescents with learning disabilities and nondisabled adolescents. Furthermore, all of the studies that used either multiple mea-sures or a combination of situational and dispositional measures identified attributional differences between these groups (Aponik & Dembo, 1983; Gard-ner et al., 1977; Jacobsen et al., 1986; Kistner et al., 1988; Tollefson et al., 1982). These results suggest that the assessment of attribution is facilitated by the use of multiple measures involv-ing direct situational measures im-mediately following the completion of a task, as well as dispositional mea-sures. Researchers should continue to go beyond the earlier comparisons on the internal/external dichotomy on dis-positional measures and examine inter-nal attributions for specific success/ failure experiences, to identify the neg-ative internal attributions and extend the search for correlates of attribution.

Still, the research demonstrates that adolescents with learning disabilities attribute both success and failure more internally than comparison groups (Aponik & Dembo, 1983; Jacobsen et al., 1986; Tollefson et al., 1982). Given the difficulty of many secondary school tasks, these internal attributions for failure at difficult tasks among students with LD could lead these students to-ward fairly severe self-criticism. Specif-ically, information is needed on the degree to which these less than posi-tive attributions are related to other, more serious problems, such as anxi-ety, depression, and suicide.

Anxiety

Adolescents with LD appear to differ from nondisabled peers in terms of the

level of anxiety they feel (Dollinger et al., 1988; Epstein, Bursuck, & Culli-nan, 1985; Epstein, Cullinan, & Lloyd, 1986; Margalit & Raviv, 1984; Margalit & Shulman, 1986; Margalit & Zak, 1984; Paget & Reynolds, 1984; Ritter, 1989). For definitional purposes, two basic types of anxiety can be distin-guished: State anxiety is an emotional reaction experienced in a specific self-threatening situation, whereas trait anxiety is a relatively stable personal-ity characteristic (Wolfe et al., 1987). High levels of state anxiety are a part of the adaptation process. However, trait anxiety represents a general and pervasive fear and may be conceived as one indicator of maladjustment.

Margalit and Shulman (1986) used a dispositional self-report to examine anxiety in 40 boys in the sixth and seventh grades (ages 12 through 14). Twenty of the students were attending a special school for students with learning disabilities; the other 20, a non-LD comparison group, attended a school in the same geographic area. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970), as adapted by Teichman and Melnick (1977), was individually ad-ministered to each student. Students with LD were found to have signifi-cantly higher levels of trait anxiety than nondisabled students.

Using a different methodology, Dol-linger et al. (1988) investigated the as-sociation between the sleep problems and worrying of high school students with LD. Forty-one students (28 males, 13 females) volunteered to participate in this study. Students ranged in age from 14 to 20. The researchers used Form B of the Louisville Fear Survey for Children (Miller, Barrett, Hampe, & Noble, 1972), a measure of specific worries, and the Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist (Sines, Pauker, Sines, & Owen, 1969), a self-report of sleep problems. Parents also complet-ed the parent version of the Missouri Children's Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that the anxiety of adoles-cents with LD was positively correlated to sleeping problems. Disturbed sleep-

ers in this study were found to be con-cerned about their competence, partic-ularly about appearing incompetent in public. Specifically, sleep problems seemed to relate to anxiety about mak-ing mistakes, being teased, getting poor grades, and being criticized.

Margalit and Raviv (1984) investi-gated the prevalence of minor somatic complaints of children and adolescents with LD and mild disabilities, and of normally achieving students. Minor somatic complaints were defined as the communication of pains and fatigue without a demonstrated organic cause. Subjects consisted of 130 students with LD, 59 normally achieving students, and 69 students with mild intellectual impairments. The two disabled groups attended a special school. All students attended Grades 1 through 7 and were assessed in the context of individual in-terviews with their teachers. Teachers were given a list of complaints and asked to list the students who were complaining of these problems. A 3-point Likert scale on the frequency of complaints was used. The students with LD had a significantly higher proportion of complaints than the other groups.

Gregg, Hoy, King, Moreland, and Ja-gota (1992) demonstrated that college-age students with learning disabilities manifested anxiety at levels that were notably high. Forty-two adolescents with learning disabilities in either a university undergraduate program or a rehabilitation setting participated. Each of these students was assessed using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Gra-ham, Tellegren, & Karmmer, 1989). When compared to the norm scores for that instrument, the scores for the ado-lescents with learning disabilities indi-cated high levels of anxiety, though the average T scores (58.81 and 59.23, respectively) were not in the critical range indicative of a need for counsel-ing or further screening.

In summary, current research sug-gests that adolescents with LD expe-rience higher levels of trait anxiety than their normally achieving peers (Dol-

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linger et al., 1988; Epstein et al., 1985; Epstein et al., 1986; Gregg et al., 1992; Margalit & Raviv, 1984; Margalit & Shulman, 1986; Margalit & Zak, 1984; Paget & Reynolds, 1984; Ritter, 1989). In addition, adolescents with LD were found to have a significantly higher prevalence of minor somatic com-plaints. Furthermore, this high level of anxiety has been correlated with sleep-ing problems among adolescents with LD. These results suggest that anxiety may have more serious repercussions than was originally thought.

Depression and Suicide

Several recent research reports have suggested specific links among LD, depression, and suicide (Brumback & Staton, 1980; Colbert, Newman, Ney, & Young, 1982; Hayes & Sloat, 1990; Livingston, 1985; Maag & Behrens, 1989; Maag, Rutherford, & Parks, 1988; Peck, 1985; Pfeffer, 1986; Weiss, Minde, Werry, Douglas, & Nemath, 1971). Given the life-threatening na-ture of depression for adolescents with LD, a closer examination of these vari-ables is warranted.

Depression

Beck (1976) indicated that depression is characterized by negative patterns of thinking or attitudes regarding one's self, the future, and the environment. It should be quite apparent that the repeated inability of students with learning disabilities to exhibit compe-tence in academic situations could lead to such feelings of powerlessness in school over the years, and one can hypothesize that these feelings become increasingly negative with increasing years of school failure. As the research on anxiety, academic self-concept, and attribution for failure demonstrates, many adolescents with LD are charac-terized by this negative pattern of thinking, as described by Beck.

During the last decade researchers have documented the occurrence of depression among children and ado-

JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES

lescents with LD (Brumback, Staton, & Wilson, 1980; Colbert et al., 1982; Gold-stein, Paul, & Sanfilippo-Cohen, 1985; Gregg et al., 1992; Livingston, 1985; Maag & Behrens, 1989; Stevenson & Romney, 1984). In their early study, Goldstein et al. (1985) assessed 85 chil-dren with learning disabilities in an alternative school program. The Chil-dren's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1980; Kovacs & Beck, 1977) was used, along with a battery of achievement and intelligence tests. Although no comparison group of nondisabled chil-dren was included in the study, com-parison of the children with learning disabilities and the scores for the norm group on the depression inventory in-dicated that 26% of the children with LD were severely depressed, com-pared to only 10% of the normative sample.

Stevenson and Romney (1984) inves-tigated the prevalence of depression among children with learning disabil-ities aged 8 to 11. Only children en-rolled in classes for students with learning disabilities in Grades 3 through 6 whose parents had given permission participated in the study. Depression was assessed by means of the Children's Depression Inventory. In this study, 14% of the sample was identified as severely depressed.

In view of these results among popu-lations of children with learning dis-abilities, researchers have begun to document depression among adoles-cent populations with learning disabil-ities. For example, in the study by Gregg et al. (1992), reviewed above, results revealed that the 24 adolescent students with learning disabilities who were being served in a rehabilitation setting demonstrated more depression than would normally be expected in comparison to the norm group. The 26 students receiving rehabilitative ser-vices demonstrated a T score of 63.03 on depression, which is more than 1 standard deviation above the expected mean.

Maag and Behrens (1989) assessed the prevalence and severity of depres-sion of 465 junior and senior high

school resource students with either learning disabilities or severe emotion-al disturbance. To determine possible developmental differences, students were divided into two categories: junior high school (Grades 7 and 8) and senior high school (Grades 9 through 12). Two self-report measures of depression were group adminis-tered in each special education class by the teachers: the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form (Beck & Beck, 1972) and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Hollon & Kendall, 1980). Results indicated that 20% of the male and 32% of the female junior high students with learning disabilities were found to be severely depressed. Fur-thermore, 17% of the male and 18% of the female high school students with learning disabilities were found to be severely depressed. This indicates that students in the junior high school sam-ple exhibited more severe depressive symptomatology than students in the senior high sample. Although the lack of a comparison group of nondisabled students weakens these results consid-erably, these levels of depression are considerably higher than one would expect of nondisabled populations.

Suicide

Adolescent suicide has risen sharply during the past quarter century and ranks as one of the top three causes of death for persons under 24 years of age (Guetzloe, 1989). From 1970 to 1980, the rate of reported suicide deaths rose 66%; when compared to the 1950 rate, the increase has been over 200% (Frederick, 1985).

Suicide ideation, or thoughts about suicide, and parasuicide, or attempted suicide, both show a significant in-crease with age, principally during adolescence (Rutter, 1986). For exam-ple, Carlson, Asarnow, and Orbach (1987) indicated that of 15 adolescents who fantasized about suicide, 11 made suicide attempts. Moreover, suicide, which is extremely rare before puberty, shows a massive increase during the adolescent years (Rutter, 1986).

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Researchers concerned with parasui-cide among adolescents with or with-out learning disabilities indicate that depression/suicide does have several identifiable correlates. Peck (1985) sug-gested that students with learning dis-abilities who are severely depressed tend to have lower self-concept. Hayes and Sloat (1990) suggested that feelings of helplessness are related to suicide among non-LD children, and numer-ous researchers have noted relation-ships between depression and suicide (Carlson et al., 1987; Hayes & Sloat, 1990; Peck, 1985). When these poten-tial correlates are considered, in view of the evidence presented on these variables among adolescents with learning disabilities, it would seem that adolescents with learning disabilities may be at a higher risk for suicide than nondisabled students. Clearly, studies that correlate these variables among parasuicide populations with LD would be helpful here in terms of depicting specific relationships.

Several researchers have demon-strated a potential relationship be-tween increased risk for suicide and learning disabilities (Hayes & Sloat, 1988; Livingston, 1985; Maag et al., 1988; Pfeffer, 1986). For example, Hayes and Sloat surveyed counselors in 129 high schools for information concerning all suicide-related occur-rences. The survey was sent to schools in four counties of north central Texas representing urban, suburban, and rural school districts with a broad and varied ethnic base. Information was re-quested on any suicide-related occur-rence (suicide, suicide attempt, or events that the counselor considered probable suicide or attempt). The counselors were asked to complete a survey form for each such occurrence. Forms were returned by 53% of the schools, and results indicate that 14% of the suicide-related occurrences in-volved adolescents with LD. Although the percentage of students identified as having LD within a school population rarely exceeds 5%, this study suggests that students with learning disabilities may account for a higher percentage of

suicide attempts than would otherwise be expected.

Peck (1985) conducted a study of cases of suicide by children and adoles-cents seen by the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center. Included in the study were all suicide cases involving children and adolescents under the age of 15 that occurred in Los Angeles County over a 3-year period—a total of 14 cases. In that study, 50% of the vic-tims were students with LD as identi-fied by the local school districts.

Pfeffer (1986) also suggested a link between learning disabilities and sui-cide. She presented three case studies to support her contention that children and adolescents with learning disabil-ities are at a greater risk for suicide be-cause of their cognitive deficits. According to Pfeffer, cognitive deficits limit the student's ability to make ac-curate assessments of stressful situa-tions or to work out alternative solu-tions to his or her problems. As a result of these inaccurate social perceptions, these students may feel so helpless that expressions of suicidal tendencies occur.

Summary In summary, although few studies

have been conducted that involve direct comparisons between adoles-cents with LD and non-LD groups, several studies have suggested the in-creased risk of adolescents with learn-ing disabilities for both depression and suicide. The high rates of suicide found among adolescents with LD in certain studies is particularly alarming. Also, given the interrelationship between emotional well-being—as measured by self-concept, attributions, anxiety, or depression—and suicide, there seems to be a compelling need for further research in each of these areas.

Implications

Research Methodology The number of studies on some of

these variables is quite small, and

many studies do not include appropri-ate comparison groups. Although the comparisons with norm-based scores in these studies may give a rough indica-tion of problems, studies that directly compare adolescents with LD to low-achieving non-LD adolescents are cer-tainly warranted. As noted throughout the article, correlation- and regression-based studies that might indicate po-tential causal relationships among these variables are needed. Other social/emotional variables, such as be-havior problems and social skills, should be included. Multitrait, multi-method research designs are needed to address both the interdependence of these measures and the consistency of these self-ratings in adolescent popu-lations with learning disabilities.

Finally, in treatment studies de-signed to positively affect self-concept or attributes among adolescents with LD, researchers may wish to incorpor-ate pre/post measures of anxiety, de-pression, or suicide ideation to docu-ment any positive treatment effects.

Measurement Issues

The literature relating to the emo-tional well-being of adolescents with LD contains several methodological concerns specifically related to mea-surement. Often, during the initial phases of research, only one type of device is used to measure a variable in a global fashion. The early measures of self-concept followed this model. However, after an issue has been exam-ined for a time, it becomes apparent that either a different type of measure or multiple measures would be more appropriate. Specifically, global self-concept measures eventually yielded to situation-specific measures, such as academic self-concept. In the attribu-tion research, diagnostic measures ini-tially placed students on a continuum of internal/external loci of control. However, more recent research has suggested the need to explore more specific task attributions in success and failure situations. Researchers in this area should certainly incorporate both

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more recent measures and/or multiple measures of these variables in their designs.

Particular care should also be taken in selecting instruments to measure depression. Some measures of depres-sion investigate only the severity of depressive symptomatology. Other measures assess both the severity and the duration of symptoms. Research-ers should carefully consider these different measures, though whenever possible the duration of any symptoms should be reported. For example, if a student were given a depression in-ventory to complete the day after he was cut from the football team, he might obtain a clinically significant score. However, it is unlikely that the depression he experienced would be of significant duration or have accom-panying feelings of helplessness and thoughts of worthlessness.

Another measurement issue involves the paucity of information available on the interrelationship of various affec-tive instruments. Comparisons of scores on self-concept, attribution, anxiety, depression, and parasuicide among adolescents with learning dis-abilities are needed. Assessments that purport to measure one variable have often been found to measure another, and researchers need to develop an understanding of the complex inter-relationships among these variables.

Finally, variability related to gender should be considered in measurement of all of these variables. Data regard-ing sex differences in the emotional ad-justment of nondisabled populations has been inconsistent, and many stud-ies of adolescents with learning disabil-ities have omitted this factor from their analyses.

Developmental Issues

Several methodological issues are apparent in this research related to the development and maturation of the in-dividual with learning disabilities. Bender (1987), to explain the earlier, inconsistent findings related to self-concept, hypothesized a developmen-

JQURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES

tal lag in self-concept resulting in im-proved self-concept in adolescents. To date there has been no research sup-port for that suggestion, and the dis-tinction discussed previously between global and academic self-concept ap-parently accounts for the earlier find-ings. Still, the issue of development of these emotional traits over time should be investigated more thoroughly. In the Maag and Behrens (1989) study of depression, adolescents with LD were subdivided into two groups based on grade placement, and the younger adolescents demonstrated more de-pression than the older students. This could represent a developmental lag in maturity, which would indicate that older students with LD are more cap-able of dealing with the causes of de-pression than are younger children. However, much more research is needed here. Are low self-concept, poor attributions, and anxiety cumula-tive over time, resulting in more seri-ous problems with depression later? We need well-designed developmental studies of adolescents with learning disabilities that subdivide the adoles-cents by age to study these variables further.

The majority of research that has been conducted to date with adoles-cents with learning disabilities involves children and youngsters in early ado-lescence. Further research is needed with high school students and young adults. Additionally, some researchers have suggested that there are no dif-ferences between students with mild disabilities and low-achieving students (Algozzine & Ysseldyke, 1986). Thus, it is important that this research em-phasize the use of matched-IQ and low-achieving controls for studies on adolescents with LD.

Teacher Training

Teacher training for prospective teachers of students with LD and on-going inservice training for experi-enced teachers should encompass an understanding of characteristics and symptoms, related conditions, and rec-

ommended interventions in the areas of self-concept, attributions, anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation. In the past, preparation for teachers of students with LD was limited to aca-demic instruction; only recently have interventions for social skills been ad-dressed. Furthermore, although re-searchers have studied treatments for attribution problems, few teachers of adolescents with LD employ these treatments. Many teachers are still poorly prepared to recognize or inter-vene in many of the emotional issues dealt with by their students.

If additional research confirms the higher risk of depression and suicide among adolescents with LD, training for teachers in recognizing behaviors associated with suicide ideation would certainly be in order. Students who are depressed should be asked about sui-cidal thoughts and actions. The notion that asking about such things is dan-gerous is incorrect; there is no evi-dence to support the idea that bringing up the subject of suicide will cause the student to contemplate it (Muse, 1990). However, most teachers would need additional preparation before they could feel comfortable broaching such a subject with a student.

Teachers of students with LD also need the background to develop and use suicide referral and consultation resources. Students who indicate that they think about hurting themselves or dying need immediate evaluation and intervention by a competent profes-sional. Students who are suspected of suicidal thoughts or tendencies also need immediate intervention. Referral should be made to professionals who are trained in determining the serious-ness of suicidal thoughts and the potential for attempted suicide.

Assessment

If other studies confirm these rela-tionships, then assessment of each adolescent's emotional well-being (in self-concept, attributional style, levels of anxiety, and level of depression) should be conducted at the time of di-

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agnosis. Schools represent an ideal set-ting for assessing these variables, as students ' behaviors, interpersonal rela-tionships, and academic performance can be scrutinized in the school setting. Thorough and ongoing assessment of adolescents with learning disabilities should include a s tudy of their affec-tive and cognitive characteristics, if only to serve as a screening for in-creased emotional problems (Bender, 1987). Additionally, it is critical that di-agnosticians and school psychologists consider the manifestations of depres-sion when interpreting the test results of adolescents with learning dis-abilities.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Deborah D. Huntington, MEd, is currently a doctoral student in special education at the University of Georgia. William N. Bender, PhD, is an associate professor in the Depart-ment of Special Education at the University of Georgia. His interest areas include affective/ social-emotional aspects of learning disabilities, evaluation of mainstream environments, and mainstream instructional strategies. Address: Deborah Huntington, Aderholt Hall, Room 547, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.

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