Objectives:

the purpose of the present work was tostudy the neurocognitive performance of adolescents at risk for suicide.

Background:
Adolescence is a key developmental stage in which there is a more vulnerability to different mental problems. Knowledge about the neurocognitive functioning of individual at risk for suicide is still limited.

Materials and Methods:
A total of 850 adolescents from a stratified random cluster sampling were selected. Adolescents at risk for suicide included 40 participants. A comparison group of 40participants matched by age and gender was also randomly selected from the sample. The Paykel Suicide Scale (PSS) and the University of Pennsylvania Computerized Neuropsychological Test Battery for children (included 14 tasks assessing five neurobehavioral domains: executive functions, episodic memory, complex cognition, social cognition, and sensorimotor speed) were used

Results and Conclusions:
Suicide behaviours were related with different difficulties in neurocognitive domains. Social Cognition and Episodic memory showed a different functioning in those adolescents at risk for suicide. The study of these neurocognitive correlates of suicide contribute to a deeper understanding of this problematic, allowing future preventive and profilactic interventions.

14 - Suicide behaviours and neurocognitive functioning in adolescents