Friendships and Suicidality Among Mexican American Adolescent Girls and Boys

Friendship factors have been implicated in adolescent suicidality, but this relationship has not been verified across ethnicities. This study examined suicidality and friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor friendship quality, friends' school disconnection, and friends' delinquen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Death studies 2010-08, Vol.34 (7), p.641-660
Main Authors: Winterrowd, Erin, Canetto, Silvia Sara, Chavez, Ernest L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - psychology
Adolescents
Adult
At Risk Persons
At Risk Students
Conflict (Psychology)
Delinquency
Educational Status
Ethnicity
Female
Females
Friends - psychology
Friendship
Gender Differences
Health technology assessment
Hispanic Americans
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Juvenile Delinquency - psychology
Juvenile Delinquency - statistics & numerical data
Male
Males
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans - psychology
Mexican Americans - statistics & numerical data
Peer Influence
Psychological Patterns
Questionnaires
Racial Differences
Risk Factors
Sex Distribution
Sex roles
Social Isolation
Social Isolation - psychology
Southwestern United States
Studies
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide
Suicide - psychology
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Suicides & suicide attempts
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teenagers
Young Adult
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Summary:Friendship factors have been implicated in adolescent suicidality, but this relationship has not been verified across ethnicities. This study examined suicidality and friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor friendship quality, friends' school disconnection, and friends' delinquency) among Mexican American adolescents, an understudied, vulnerable group in terms of suicidality. Three hundred thirty-eight community adolescents, two-thirds of whom were educationally at-risk, participated in the study. Suicidal ideation and behavior rates were high, particularly among girls. Friends' school disconnectedness increased girls' odds for suicidal ideation by 13%. This association was even greater for girls in good academic standing. Friendship problems were not associated with suicidality in boys. Ethnic identity was a minor factor in suicidal ideation, and only for girls. These findings confirm, among Mexican American adolescents, the role of gender in the relationship between friendship and suicidality.
ISSN:0748-1187
1091-7683
DOI:10.1080/07481181003765527