Suicide Risk Assessment: Exam 3 - Questions with Correct
Answers
100 questions
1. The socioecological model of suicide prevention recognizes risk and protective factors at
which levels?
A. Only the individual level
B. Only the hospital level
C. Only genetic level
D. Individual, relationship, community, and societal
Correct Answer: D. Individual, relationship, community, and societal
Rationale: CDC uses this model to show that factors such as access to care, economic stability, stigma
and safe firearm storage operate beyond the individual. Effective prevention combines strategies at
multiple levels. Focusing only on individuals misses community and policy factors.
2. Rural communities often have higher suicide rates than urban areas, partly because of:
A. More mental health providers per capita
B. Lower firearm ownership
C. Greater firearm access, isolation, and limited access to mental health care
D. Shorter travel times to care
Correct Answer: C. Greater firearm access, isolation, and limited access to mental health care
Rationale: Rural residents face provider shortages, long distances to care, stigma and higher firearm
ownership, all of which raise risk. Telehealth and community gatekeeper programs can help. Rural areas
have fewer, not more, mental health resources.
3. For every person who dies by suicide, many more:
A. Die from accidents instead
B. Never think about suicide again
C. Seriously consider suicide, make a plan, or attempt
D. Are hospitalized for physical illness
Correct Answer: C. Seriously consider suicide, make a plan, or attempt
Rationale: In 2023, millions of US adults seriously considered suicide, millions made plans and about 1.5
million attempted, showing that deaths are only the visible tip of a much larger problem. This is why
screening in health care settings matters. The other options do not describe this relationship.
,4. In the interpersonal theory of suicide, acquired capability for suicide refers to:
A. Having a college degree
B. Being physically strong
C. Reduced fear of death and increased pain tolerance from repeated painful or provocative
experiences
D. Owning a car
Correct Answer: C. Reduced fear of death and increased pain tolerance from repeated painful
or provocative experiences
Rationale: Exposure to self-injury, prior attempts, violence or certain occupations can reduce fear of
death, which helps explain why prior attempts and NSSI raise risk. This capability is distinct from the
desire for suicide. It is not related to education, strength or possessions.
5. Compared with older adults, young people have:
A. Fewer attempts for each death
B. Many more suicide attempts for each suicide death
C. The same ratio of attempts to deaths
D. No suicide attempts
Correct Answer: B. Many more suicide attempts for each suicide death
Rationale: Among youth, there may be dozens of attempts for every death, while among older adults
attempts are fewer and far more often fatal because of frailty, isolation, planning and more lethal means.
This means an older adult's attempt or ideation warrants particular urgency. Youth attempts still require
serious follow-up.
6. Which racial or ethnic groups have the highest suicide rates in the United States?
A. Non-Hispanic Asian people
B. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native and non-Hispanic White people
C. Hispanic people only
D. Rates are identical across all groups
Correct Answer: B. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native and non-Hispanic White
people
Rationale: CDC reports the highest rates among American Indian and Alaska Native and White
populations, reflecting factors such as historical trauma, rurality, access to care and firearm access. Rates
differ meaningfully across groups, so prevention must be culturally tailored. Asian and Hispanic
populations have lower overall rates, though risk varies within them.
,7. The 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention emphasizes:
A. Only individual therapy
B. A comprehensive, whole-of-society approach that includes lethal means safety, crisis care, and
health equity
C. Eliminating crisis lines
D. Reducing funding for research
Correct Answer: B. A comprehensive, whole-of-society approach that includes lethal means
safety, crisis care, and health equity
Rationale: The national strategy outlines community-based prevention, treatment and crisis services,
surveillance and research, and health equity, with an action plan across government and partners.
Individual therapy is one part of a broader approach. It expands, rather than eliminates, crisis services.
8. The term self-directed violence is used by the CDC to describe:
A. Behavior directed at oneself that deliberately results in or could result in injury, including suicidal
and nonsuicidal acts
B. Only completed suicides
C. Violence toward others
D. Accidental injuries
Correct Answer: A. Behavior directed at oneself that deliberately results in or could result in
injury, including suicidal and nonsuicidal acts
Rationale: Self-directed violence is an umbrella term with suicidal and nonsuicidal subtypes, encouraging
consistent language across settings. It excludes accidents and violence toward others. Uniform definitions
improve surveillance and research.
9. A history of childhood bullying victimization is associated with:
A. Lower suicide risk
B. No psychological effects
C. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts in youth and later life
D. Risk only for bullies
Correct Answer: C. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts in youth and later life
Rationale: Being bullied, including cyberbullying, raises risk of depression and suicidal thoughts; both
victims and perpetrators show elevated risk. Schools and clinicians should ask about bullying. It has
lasting psychological effects.
, 10. Perceived discrimination and minority stress increase suicide risk among sexual and gender
minority people because of:
A. Inherent mental weakness
B. Chronic stigma, rejection, victimization, and concealment stress
C. Lack of any stress
D. Genetic differences in brain structure
Correct Answer: B. Chronic stigma, rejection, victimization, and concealment stress
Rationale: The minority stress model explains elevated risk through external stressors and internalized
stigma, not identity itself. Acceptance by family and affirming care strongly reduce risk. Framing risk as
inherent weakness is inaccurate and harmful.
11. Being a victim of intimate partner violence is associated with:
A. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts
B. Decreased suicide risk
C. No psychological effects
D. Risk only for perpetrators
Correct Answer: A. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts
Rationale: IPV victims experience trauma, depression, PTSD and entrapment, which raise suicide risk;
perpetrators may also be at risk, especially around separation. Screening for IPV and linking to resources
is part of comprehensive assessment.
12. Agitated or mixed states in bipolar disorder are particularly dangerous because they
combine:
A. Low energy with euthymic mood
B. Normal mood and calm behavior
C. Only euphoria
D. Depressed mood with high energy and impulsivity
Correct Answer: D. Depressed mood with high energy and impulsivity
Rationale: Mixed features combine the despair of depression with the activation of mania, increasing the
capacity to act on suicidal thoughts. Bipolar disorder has one of the highest suicide rates of psychiatric
conditions. Close monitoring is needed.
Answers
100 questions
1. The socioecological model of suicide prevention recognizes risk and protective factors at
which levels?
A. Only the individual level
B. Only the hospital level
C. Only genetic level
D. Individual, relationship, community, and societal
Correct Answer: D. Individual, relationship, community, and societal
Rationale: CDC uses this model to show that factors such as access to care, economic stability, stigma
and safe firearm storage operate beyond the individual. Effective prevention combines strategies at
multiple levels. Focusing only on individuals misses community and policy factors.
2. Rural communities often have higher suicide rates than urban areas, partly because of:
A. More mental health providers per capita
B. Lower firearm ownership
C. Greater firearm access, isolation, and limited access to mental health care
D. Shorter travel times to care
Correct Answer: C. Greater firearm access, isolation, and limited access to mental health care
Rationale: Rural residents face provider shortages, long distances to care, stigma and higher firearm
ownership, all of which raise risk. Telehealth and community gatekeeper programs can help. Rural areas
have fewer, not more, mental health resources.
3. For every person who dies by suicide, many more:
A. Die from accidents instead
B. Never think about suicide again
C. Seriously consider suicide, make a plan, or attempt
D. Are hospitalized for physical illness
Correct Answer: C. Seriously consider suicide, make a plan, or attempt
Rationale: In 2023, millions of US adults seriously considered suicide, millions made plans and about 1.5
million attempted, showing that deaths are only the visible tip of a much larger problem. This is why
screening in health care settings matters. The other options do not describe this relationship.
,4. In the interpersonal theory of suicide, acquired capability for suicide refers to:
A. Having a college degree
B. Being physically strong
C. Reduced fear of death and increased pain tolerance from repeated painful or provocative
experiences
D. Owning a car
Correct Answer: C. Reduced fear of death and increased pain tolerance from repeated painful
or provocative experiences
Rationale: Exposure to self-injury, prior attempts, violence or certain occupations can reduce fear of
death, which helps explain why prior attempts and NSSI raise risk. This capability is distinct from the
desire for suicide. It is not related to education, strength or possessions.
5. Compared with older adults, young people have:
A. Fewer attempts for each death
B. Many more suicide attempts for each suicide death
C. The same ratio of attempts to deaths
D. No suicide attempts
Correct Answer: B. Many more suicide attempts for each suicide death
Rationale: Among youth, there may be dozens of attempts for every death, while among older adults
attempts are fewer and far more often fatal because of frailty, isolation, planning and more lethal means.
This means an older adult's attempt or ideation warrants particular urgency. Youth attempts still require
serious follow-up.
6. Which racial or ethnic groups have the highest suicide rates in the United States?
A. Non-Hispanic Asian people
B. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native and non-Hispanic White people
C. Hispanic people only
D. Rates are identical across all groups
Correct Answer: B. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native and non-Hispanic White
people
Rationale: CDC reports the highest rates among American Indian and Alaska Native and White
populations, reflecting factors such as historical trauma, rurality, access to care and firearm access. Rates
differ meaningfully across groups, so prevention must be culturally tailored. Asian and Hispanic
populations have lower overall rates, though risk varies within them.
,7. The 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention emphasizes:
A. Only individual therapy
B. A comprehensive, whole-of-society approach that includes lethal means safety, crisis care, and
health equity
C. Eliminating crisis lines
D. Reducing funding for research
Correct Answer: B. A comprehensive, whole-of-society approach that includes lethal means
safety, crisis care, and health equity
Rationale: The national strategy outlines community-based prevention, treatment and crisis services,
surveillance and research, and health equity, with an action plan across government and partners.
Individual therapy is one part of a broader approach. It expands, rather than eliminates, crisis services.
8. The term self-directed violence is used by the CDC to describe:
A. Behavior directed at oneself that deliberately results in or could result in injury, including suicidal
and nonsuicidal acts
B. Only completed suicides
C. Violence toward others
D. Accidental injuries
Correct Answer: A. Behavior directed at oneself that deliberately results in or could result in
injury, including suicidal and nonsuicidal acts
Rationale: Self-directed violence is an umbrella term with suicidal and nonsuicidal subtypes, encouraging
consistent language across settings. It excludes accidents and violence toward others. Uniform definitions
improve surveillance and research.
9. A history of childhood bullying victimization is associated with:
A. Lower suicide risk
B. No psychological effects
C. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts in youth and later life
D. Risk only for bullies
Correct Answer: C. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts in youth and later life
Rationale: Being bullied, including cyberbullying, raises risk of depression and suicidal thoughts; both
victims and perpetrators show elevated risk. Schools and clinicians should ask about bullying. It has
lasting psychological effects.
, 10. Perceived discrimination and minority stress increase suicide risk among sexual and gender
minority people because of:
A. Inherent mental weakness
B. Chronic stigma, rejection, victimization, and concealment stress
C. Lack of any stress
D. Genetic differences in brain structure
Correct Answer: B. Chronic stigma, rejection, victimization, and concealment stress
Rationale: The minority stress model explains elevated risk through external stressors and internalized
stigma, not identity itself. Acceptance by family and affirming care strongly reduce risk. Framing risk as
inherent weakness is inaccurate and harmful.
11. Being a victim of intimate partner violence is associated with:
A. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts
B. Decreased suicide risk
C. No psychological effects
D. Risk only for perpetrators
Correct Answer: A. Increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempts
Rationale: IPV victims experience trauma, depression, PTSD and entrapment, which raise suicide risk;
perpetrators may also be at risk, especially around separation. Screening for IPV and linking to resources
is part of comprehensive assessment.
12. Agitated or mixed states in bipolar disorder are particularly dangerous because they
combine:
A. Low energy with euthymic mood
B. Normal mood and calm behavior
C. Only euphoria
D. Depressed mood with high energy and impulsivity
Correct Answer: D. Depressed mood with high energy and impulsivity
Rationale: Mixed features combine the despair of depression with the activation of mania, increasing the
capacity to act on suicidal thoughts. Bipolar disorder has one of the highest suicide rates of psychiatric
conditions. Close monitoring is needed.
