Adolescent suicide attempters who report substance abuse have been identified as a high risk group. However, substance use at the time of the suicide attempt has seldom been investigated. This study examined the rate of substance use in a sample of adolescents who had attempted suicide and conducted a comparison of the intent of the suicide attempt, mood and problem behavior of adolescent suicide attempters with substance use histories to those who did not report substance use. In addition, the study examined whether mood or problem behavior was more strongly related to substance use among these adolescents. It was hypothesized that adolescent suicide attempters who reported significant substance use would also report more severe suicidal intent, and higher rates of depressed mood, anger, and behavior problems and that problem behavior would be more strongly related to substance use than mood state. Study participants consisted of 106 adolescents, age 12 to 18 years who had attempted suicide. Several measures were used in the study and consisted of psychiatric diagnoses, substance use, toxicology screen, suicidal intent, mood state, and behavior disturbance. Study findings found that 7 percent of the sample reported alcohol or other drug use at the time of the attempt. The study suggests that behavior disturbance is more strongly related to alcohol use among adolescent suicide attempters than mood state and that hopelessness and behavior problems were both related to the severity of alcohol involvement. Tables and references