Year: 2020 Source: Suicidology Online. (2020). 11:1. Published online 7 May 2020 SIEC No: 20200458

About 800,000 people die of suicide each year worldwide (World Health Organization, 2018). Many of these can be expected to be adolescents. Key protective factors have been found to buffer the risk of suicide (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2018). This study investigated the relative importance of two protective factors—social support and social connectedness—in a convenience sample of 811 Filipino youth. Participants completed the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors, the Social Connectedness Scale, and the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire. Results showed significant associations among social support, social connectedness, and suicide ideation. Social support and social connectedness correlated moderately, and both research variables correlated with suicide ideation, as well. When subjected to a stepwise regression, however, the incremental predictive value of social support was minor compared to social connectedness. This argues that clinical interventions should increase the salience of social connectedness, rather than focus exclusively on social support.