Table 1.

Prevalence of binary suicidal thoughts and behavior variables in COGA

Suicidal thought or behavior	Description		N total	N affected
Non-suicidal self-injury	Individuals were asked, “(Other than when you tried to take your own life) did you ever hurt yourself on purpose, for example, by cutting or burning yourself?”		6,434	571
Suicidal ideation	Individuals were asked, “Have you ever thought about killing yourself?”		7,526	3,267
Active ideation	Individuals endorsing suicidal ideation were subsequently asked, “Did you have a plan? (Did you actually consider a way to take your life?)”		3,205	1,330
Persistent ideation	Individuals endorsing suicidal ideation were subsequently asked, “Did those thoughts persist for at least 7 days in a row?”		3,153	963
Suicide attempt	Individuals were asked, “Have you ever tried to kill yourself?”		7,526	814
More than one attempt	Individuals who endorsed a suicide attempt were asked, “How many times (did you try to kill yourself)?” Affected individuals answered more than once		797	319
Medical treatment after attempt	Individuals who endorsed a suicide attempt were asked, “Did you require medical treatment after you tried to kill yourself?”		799	355
Substance use prior to attempt	Individuals who endorsed a suicide attempt were asked, “Did you try to kill yourself after you had been drinking?” and “Did you try to kill yourself after using drugs?” Affected individuals answered yes to either one or both of these questions		798	360
Desire to die	Individuals who endorsed a suicide attempt were asked, “Did you really want to die?” Affected individuals answered “maybe” or “yes” to this question		799	576
Compounded suicide attempt	Indented rows indicate nested questions, for example, data for active ideation were only collected on individuals endorsing suicidal ideation.		798	713

Indented rows indicate nested questions, for example, data for active ideation were only collected on individuals endorsing suicidal ideation.