The Social Context of Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Interactive Effects of Parent, Peer, and School Social Relations

An ecological developmental model of adolescent suicidality was used to inform a hierarchical logistic regression analysis of longitudinal interactions between parent, peer, & school relations & suicide attempts. Reanalyzing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, it was found that parent relations were the most consistent protective factor, & among boys with prior suicide attempts, school relations augmented the effects of parent relations when peer relations were low. Results indicate the need to understand suicidal behaviour as a component of interactive social processes in the design of clinical interventions. (48 refs.)