In the suicidology field, Shneidman proposed the Psychological Pain Assessment Scale - PPAS. The objective of this study was identifying the PPAS psychometric properties in adolescents with or without suicide ideation within the general population. The sample included 525 adolescents, aged 15 to 19, attending public and private schools of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation and PPAS were used. As to reliability, an internal consistency rate of 0.55 (p<0.001) was found and, as to temporal stability, the rate was 0.93 (p<0.001). As to discriminant validity, PPAS showed to be able of differentiating adolescents having and not having suicidal ideation; for convergent validity, a weak-to-moderate correlation was found; factorial validity suggested three dimensions. Findings showed further studies would be needed concerning PPAS, including those carried out with clinical populations, as ideal psychometric properties were not assessed.
Psychological Pain Assessment Scale; Reliability; Validity; Adolescents; Suicide ideation
